A city, as visited as Cusco, could not lack museums. These, oriented to show diverse aspects of the Pre-Inca, Inca, colonial and republican culture, are distributed throughout the city. Venture to know them, after your visit to them you will not stop thanking us. Here we detail how to get to the 9 museums that the imperial city of Cusco has.
And it is that, who visits the navel of the world without a doubt wants to have a deeper vision about the Inca culture and its importance in the world. The best part? Most of Cusco’s museums are within walking distance of the Plaza de Armas.
If you visit Cusco, also we recommend you to visit another impressive destinations like the rainbow mountain tour, the humantay lake tour, or the sacred valley tour, which only takes one day. But if you are gonna to stay more days in Perú, other archaeological places you can know will be the machu picchu day tours from cusco.
What museums in Cusco to visit?
Museums in Cusco 
Museums in Cusco
Plan your visit to Cusco following these recommendations of Peruvian museums located in the Imperial City.
Museo de Arte Precolombino Cusco
Located in Plaza Nazarenas in the middle of the picturesque artistic district of San Blas, the Pre-Columbian Art Museum, also known as “Museo de Arte Precolombino Cusco”, exhibits archaeological objects and emblematic pieces from all regions of ancient Peru. Many of the pieces (dating from 1250 BC – 1532 AD) belong to the Larco Museum, one of the most valuable museums in Lima.
Explore the ten exhibition rooms with an audio guide (available in English, Spanish and French) before a quiet break in the restaurant of the “Museo de Arte Precolombino Cusco”, and enjoy one of the most remarkable museums in Cusco.
- Address: Plaza de las Nazarenas 231.
- How to get there: on foot from the Plaza de Armas.
- Hours: Monday to Sunday, 8 a.m. at 10 p.m.
Inka Museum
Take a tour of the Inca Museum Cusco to learn all about the ingenious Inca culture and its valuable legacy. Located in an old colonial house built in the early seventeenth century, the Inka Museum exhibits a collection of archaeological pieces such as jewelry, metal and gold objects, textiles, trepanation of human skulls and queros. Something to highlight about this Inca Museum in Cusco is also the great sample of colonial painting from the Cusco School where you can see portraits of Incas and curacas from the 17th century.
- Address: Coffin 154, Cusco.
- How to get there: on foot from the Plaza de Armas.
- Hours: Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 a.m. Saturday, 9 a.m. at 4 p.m. (closed Sundays)
Regional Historical Museum of Cusco
Among the museums of Cusco that keep a valuable collection of paleontological and archaeological objects from prehistoric times, is the Regional Historical Museum of Cusco (which appears in the photo above). This is one of the museums in Cusco that exhibits cultural assets from pre-Hispanic times to colonial times.
The Regional Historical Museum of Cusco invites visitors to discover the importance of these periods in terms of politics, culture, architecture and history. The house itself is already an emblematic construction, since it was once the home of the poet of the colonial era – and one of the first Peruvian mestizos, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega.
- Address: Calle Garcilaso, Cusco.
- How to get there: on foot from the Plaza de Armas.
- Hours: Monday to Sunday, 8 a.m. at 5 p.m.
Concha House Museum
Hidden in a colonial building dating back to the 18th century, you will find the world’s most complete collection of Inca artifacts extracted from the ancient citadel of Machu Picchu. This is one of the museums in Cusco that houses about 400 archaeological pieces.
These include the findings of Hiram Bingham, the American explorer who made the existence of the Inca citadel public in 1912. Whether before or after your adventure in Machu Picchu, Casa Concha is one of the museums in Cusco that you must visit. to better understand the lifestyle of the Incas.
- Address: Santa Catalina Ancha 320, Cusco.
- How to get there: on foot from the Plaza de Armas.
- Hours: Monday to Saturday, from 9 a.m. at 5 p.m. (closed on Sundays)
Museum of Religious Art Cusco
Recognized for containing in its walls, the famous stone of the 12 angles, the Museum of Religious Art Cusco is one of the museums of Cusco most visited by travelers from all over the world. Built on the foundations of the Inca Roca Palace, this Cusco museum exhibits a collection of colonial religious art paintings and a magnificent collection of unique Cusco paintings.
Once you enter through the Moorish-style doors, don’t forget to look up and admire the carved wooden ceilings and the large Renaissance courtyard before moving on to the next museum in Cusco.
- Address: Herrajes 38, Cusco.
- How to get there: located on the corner of Hatunrumiyoc Street and Herrajes Street, a few meters from the Plaza de Armas in Cusco.
- Hours: Monday to Sunday, 8 a.m. at 6 p.m.
Coricancha Museum
The Qorikancha Museum is known for being one of the most amazing constructions of Inca Cusco. Despite having been destroyed during the Spanish conquest, the archaeological museum shows one of the most valuable samples of the union of two cultures.
Being one of the most visited museums in Cusco, the collection houses paintings, sculptures of sacred idols and wood carvings that highlight the greatness of the largest temple of the Inca Empire. Incorporated in the architectural ensemble of the Dominican Convent of the XV-XVII centuries, the Coricancha Museum has five rooms where the Inca evolution is explained didactically.
- Address: Avenida Sol s / n, Cusco.
- How to get there: located between El Sol Avenue and Santo Domingo Street, the museum is 400 meters from the Plaza de Armas in Cusco.
- Hours: Monday to Saturday, from 8:30 a.m. at 5:30 p.m .; Sundays, from 2 p.m. at 5 p.m.
Other Museums in Cusco that you can visit
Inca Museum of the National University of San Antonio Abad
Known as the ‘Archaeological Museum of Cusco’. It has funerary remains, ceramic objects, textiles and artifacts of the Inca and pre-Inca civilization
It has many archaeological treasures among which are ceramics, textiles, jewelry, skulls and a unique collection of Inca vessels.
The museum offers 6 exhibition rooms: a) pre-Inca, b) environment, c) Inca history, d) subsistence techniques, e) Inca activities, f) an Inca tomb. As in most museums where ancient remains are exhibited, photos are not allowed.
- Address: Cuesta del Almirante Nº 103, Cusco.
Museum of Natural History of Cusco
Museum that gathers millions of years of history of the flora and fauna of Cusco.
It has 2 rooms. In the first one, the flora and fauna are exhibited as well as different representative species of the coast, mountains and jungle of Peru.
In the second room it exhibits remains of minerals, fungi and medicinal plants typical of the Andean region of Cusco.
In the fossil section you can see representations of: a megaterium, a glyptodon, a mastodon and more.
The museum is organized by the San Antonio Abad del Cusco National University, one of the oldest in South America.
- Address: Plaza de Armas del Cusco s / n (Local Paraninfo of the university).
Santa Catalina Convent and Art Museum
The monastery was built at the beginning of the 17th century on the ruins of the Acllawasi, known as the ‘House of the chosen ones’ or the ‘House of the virgins of the sun’.
This beautiful convent not only surprises for its architecture but because it contains an amazing collection of art from the Andean culture and samples of Cuzco art.
In the convent’s art museum you can see paintings such as: Santa Rosa de Lima, San José, San Juan as well as sculptures and ornamental objects with religious themes.
- Address: Calle Santa Catalina Angosta Nº 401, Cusco.
San Francisco Temple Museum
The museum belongs to the Franciscan religious order. It was built in 1572 in the current “San Francisco” square in Cusco.
This temple is famous for housing catacombs with skeletal remains of former leaders of the religious order.
It is also famous for its religious paintings, of which it stands out: the ‘Genealogical tree of the Franciscan family’, considered one of the largest in South America.
- Address: Plaza San Francisco s / n, Cusco.
Museum of Contemporary Art, Municipality of Cusco
It is a modern art museum displaying modern art paintings and sculptures as well as contemporary canvases and crafts.
It was created in 1995 with the donation of a hundred works of contemporary art to the Municipality of Cusco.
The museum has 2 rooms that include the works of twentieth century Cusco artists such as: Edilberto Mérida, Antonio Olave and Hilario Mendivil.
- Address: Municipal Palace – Plazoleta Regocijo, Cusco (a few blocks from the Plaza de Armas).
