Fodor's Expert Review Museo Nacional de Antropología, Arqueología e Historia del Perú

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.