Our excursion today was called Peruvian Art and we definitely felt we got our money’s worth. We left the ship around 9 am, skipping lunch and not returning to the ship until 2:30 pm. Our first stop was in the historic Pueblo Libre District at the Larco-Herrera Museum, housed in a viceroy’s former mansion.
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| Museo Larco |
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| property full of colorful bougainvillea & variety of cactus |
The museum houses the world’s largest private collection of some 45,000 pieces of pre-Columbian ceramics and textile art. Did you get that? 45,000 pieces!! The history of this collection is most interesting. The site will allow you to translate to English. https://www.museolarco.org/en/collection/
several rooms just like this individual's faces on drink containers
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| mummy containing small child who died from hydrocephalus |
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| this person buried with 7 lbs of solid gold |
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| burial headdresses |
From there we were driven to The Museum of Contemporary Art of Lima, a collection of modern and contemporary Latin American art. We didn't spend a long time there, as it was a rather small museum. I confess I’m not much into modern art. Perhaps I’m not deep enough to figure out what messages the artists are trying to convey. Sometimes I suspect the artist isn’t sure either. I’m personally more into realism.
The art on the Vista is modern as well and I feel the same way about it. In fact, we have one piece of art hanging in our room that only within the past week or so did I discover that it is a drawing of a woman. Prior to that I just thought it was lines and shapes. It’s safe to say that I’m just not that into modern art.
Much of our time was spent riding in an air conditioned coach between the 3 different museums. Peruvians work a half day on Saturday so the traffic was quite heavy. From there we traveled further south to the enclave of Barranco where we visited the private home of Javier and Yvonne Luna.
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| life size pope in the living room |
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| every wall in every room is absolutely full |
Their personal home contains the art and treasures of the Luna Elias-Polo family who own and display an extensive collection of Niños Manuelitos (nativity scenes) from Peru and all over the world. Mrs. Luna conducted the tour of their home while sharing the history of different pieces they have collected.
It’s safe to say that both she and her husband are serious collectors, evidenced by the fact that they have enough nativities to turn their home into a museum. They have a souvenir nativity that she and her husband are a part of along with tote bag they offer for sale at the end of the tour.
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Yvonne Luna |
These photos are but a tiny sampling. There was one room that had entire miniature scenes with animated characters fishing, roasting a pig, woodworking with running water, music, lights, etc. I took a short video of it but unfortunately this blog site isn't allowing me to post videos. There really are no words to describe this place, and my photos don’t even begin to give you the full picture of what their home is like.
All in all it was an interesting day.
Barbara: Oh I will check out these places online. I guess the burial hold must have been taken from Inca rulers graves. Does your ship make sandwiches or if you are out late for a meal you either have to eat in the city or you eat late when you return? The weather and the landscaping looks so beautiful. Glad it was a great day.
ReplyDeleteYes, definitely some type of rulers - I forgot to mention that the gold mouthpieces were used to prevent anyone being able to read their lips. I have many other interesting photos I took there but too many to share here, so definitely look up the first place. Btw, the people the Incas conquered were only 4.5 feet tall. That place is unbelievable and I couldn't begin to describe it. No, we aren't allowed to take food off the ship (local laws). There was a coffee shop at the contemporary museum where we could/should have grabbed an empanada or cookie. On days where tours are coming back late, they keep the Terrace Cafe and Waves Grill open later than usual which is nice.
ReplyDeleteBarbara: I looked on my iPad at the museum and there are amazing things. I compare the "ruler gold". I have seen the treasure of Egyptians, Macedonians and Greeks, Chinese and Japanese, Indian, now I think I need to go see this too. Maybe my friend from HP, Jeanine Banks, will go too. She is from Ecuador-her father was Pastor Lopez at CFBC. I am always amazed at the headpieces (crowns) and heavy earrings. They must have had headaches after a long day wearing these things. Now I need to find something in Peru to get Greg to go.....
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