The Lima Peru LDS Temple Mission: Museo Larco

During our vacation here while the temple is closed for maintenance we visited the Larco Museum, a very well run private institution. The museum is best known worldwide for its very large collection of ceramic pottery including the world's largest collection of ancient erotica. Long ago in a beginning introduction to anthropology, at the U of U, I learned that anthropology is the study of stones, old bones, and the dirty stories of dirty people. Political science, which became my major, on the other hand is the study of dirty stories of freshly laundered politicians.

It is doubtful the visitors filing into the erotica hall had scientific or anthropological interests in mind, just a curiosity. Ticket sales which include this part of the museum likely keep it prospering. Our guide seemed quite disappointed that we were not interested in continuing our tour of the erotica hall.

Chimu gold funerary jewelry

The storage area of the museum where many of the artifacts are preserved

To date, the Larco is the most impressive of all the museums we have visited in Lima. Ceramics, textiles, and metals are featured spanning more than the 40,000 years of human habitation of the coastal deserts, Andean highlands, and mountains of modern day Peru. The Inca and many other of the indigenous cultures worshipped the sun as it brought conditions suitable for growing crops in the high mountain valleys around Cusco. For the Chimu bordering on the vast and dry coastal deserts of Peru worshipping the moon made more sense, as the sun was something that dried, scorched, and destroyed. As noted previously our favorite of the ceramics are these Moche Chimu due to their lifelike features forever preserved in their fired pottery vases. Chimu pottery distinctly shows human facial hair which is unusual. Judging by my inability to find and buy an electric razor after arriving in Lima several months back facial hair is not a problem for many Peruvian males.

Chimu POW held captive to be sacrificed. Note the beard and mustache.

One of our guides, while touring Cusco last week, told us there were more than 170 distinct pre-Incan cultures and civilizations here in Peru. They are not all on display at the Larco but the collection of more than 45,000 artifacts contributes to the preservation of Peru's past. A quick search on ebay disclosed Incan and pre Incan artifacts can he had there, though it is illegal to transport anything of an historical nature out of Peru. Very good quality recreations of the artifacts can be purchased in the gift shop.

Moche lifelike fired ceramic vase

Stylized spider measuring several hundred meters in length at Nazca

Archaeologists still debate, and who can say, that the answers will ever be found as to why a civilization flourished and then disappeared, or of what purpose were the great lines of the Nazca painted in the desert. El Niño has profound influence and impact on weather patterns here and throughout Peru's past. There is ample evidence of climate change with periods of drought being often followed by periods of heavy rainfall and flooding, a situation we wrestle with worldwide today. Human sacrifice seems to have been nearly universal among these earlier inhabitants of Peru in attempts at appeasement and persuasion of the gods to send the right amount rainfall and sunshine to insure the crops of corn, squash, beans and potatoes thrived. Stones carved like the Intihuatana of Machu Picchu, (meaning sun catcher in Quechua), were prevalent thoughout pre Spanish Peru as astronomical observatories and offered assurances to these early farmers and societies when the winter solstice had arrived and once again the sun would begin its annual journey to warm the earth for the planting and growing of crops.

Few stones survived the Spanish conquest such as this one in Machu Picchu

In addition to the outstanding exhibits of the Museo Larco we had been told of the excellent cafe and gardens around this former colonial estate. The gardens have won several awards and the fresh sea bass cebiche in their cafe was as good as any I have experienced. The chicha morada was exceptional as well with the extra citrus, lime and orange, ingredients that I enjoy. We look forward to taking friends and family to this wonderful location in the future. The AC was particularly nice too, on a warm summer afternoon here in Lima.