Cusco's best museum for pre-Columbian art, housed in a beautifully restored 15th-century Inca ceremonial courtyard near the Plaza de Armas. The collection — drawn from the Larco Museum in Lima — presents some 450 objects: gold and silver jewellery, ceramics, woodwork, and textiles spanning 3,000 years of Andean cultures from the Chavin through the Wari, Chimu, and Inca.
The presentation is unusually thoughtful for Peru: objects are displayed in cases with good lighting and bilingual labels, and the curatorial approach emphasises aesthetic achievement rather than just archaeological classification. The gold jewellery in particular is extraordinary — miniature figures of llamas, warriors, and deities worked in metal with extraordinary skill. The courtyard itself, with its original Inca niches and stonework, is worth seeing. The café off the courtyard is one of the better places for lunch in the area.