One of the most unusual museums in Peru sits under a petrol station in central Trujillo. The Museo Cassinelli is a private collection of pre-Columbian ceramics, mainly Moche and Chimú, assembled over decades by the Cassinelli family. With over 2,000 pieces on display in a relatively small basement space, the density is remarkable.
The Moche ceramics are the highlight — the culture produced vessels in the form of human portraits, animals, deities, and erotic scenes of startling realism and variety. The portrait vessels in particular can stop you in your tracks: individual faces, each one different, rendered in fired clay 1,500 years ago. Admission is modest and the space is rarely crowded; worth 45 minutes of anyone's time in Trujillo.