2 Best Sights in Pueblo Libre, Lima

Hot-pink bougainvillea spills over the white walls of this lovely colonial mansion, which is built atop a pre-Columbian temple. What those walls house is the city's most exquisite collection of ancient art, with works from all of Peru's major pre-Hispanic cultures spanning several thousand years. Highlights include a Moche stirrup vessel detailing grisly human sacrifices, a selection of Inca quipus, and thousands of ceramic "portrait heads" that give astonishingly realistic insights into their subjects' personalities. The sala erótica reveals that Peru's ancient artisans were an uninhibited lot, creating clay pottery adorned with explicit sexual images. Guides are a good idea, and the cost is just S/35 per group. The café overlooking the museum's garden is an excellent option for lunch or dinner.

The country's most extensive collection of pre-Columbian artifacts can be found at this sprawling museum. Beginning with 8,000-year-old stone tools, Peru's history is narrated through the sleek granite obelisks of the Chavín culture, the intricate weavings of the Paracas, and the colorful ceramics of the Moche, Chimú, and Incas. A fascinating pair of mummies from the Nazca region is thought to be more than 2,500 years old. They are so well preserved that you can still see the grim expressions on their faces. The exhibits occupy two colonial houses, in one of which the Venezuelan general Simón de Bolívar, who led South America's wars of independence, lived while helping to organize a newly freed Peru.

Much of the museum is currently closed for remodeling, but the exhibits are slated to reopen before Peru's bicentennial in July of 2021. Meanwhile, the areas having to do with the country's post-independence history can still be visited.