One of the finest pre-Columbian art museums in South America, housed in the old Royal Customs House two blocks from the Plaza de Armas. The collection covers ten thousand years of art and artefacts from Mesoamerica to Patagonia — masks, ceramics, gold work, and above all the textiles that make this collection exceptional. The Andean weavings are extraordinary: intricate geometric patterns in colours that have barely faded despite millennia in the desert.
The building itself is handsome colonial architecture, with a central courtyard that the exhibits are arranged around. Well-annotated in Spanish and English. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Budget two hours for a proper visit. Admission is around 4,500 pesos; free on Sundays.