The Casa Riva-Agüero is a beautifully restored 18th-century casa solariega (manor house) on Jirón Camaná in the centre, donated to the Pontifical Catholic University in the 1940s. Today it houses a small but lively Museum of Peruvian Popular Arts and Traditions: retablos from Ayacucho, mate-burilado carved gourds from Huancayo, candlewax dolls from Cuzco, and several rooms of colonial-era furniture preserved in their original settings.
Of all Lima's colonial mansions, the Casa Riva-Agüero gives the best sense of what a wealthy creole family's home looked like. Wooden ceilings, painted leather wall hangings, and a courtyard fountain are all original. Cheaper and less visited than Casa de Aliaga and more practical for a casual stop.