Day 942
Lambayeque
One of the reasons we had decided to come to the coast was to visit some museums.
The first was the Bruning Museum, which holds collections of the German researcher Hand Henrich Bruning. He built his collection towards the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. We were both stunned by the clarity of his photographs of the local indigenous population, the quality of the ceramics, gold and even cloth. More articles have been added over the years, including pieces from the Tomb of ‘The Lord of Sipan’, more about him in a bit! There were four floors of displays which really gave us an insight to the different cultures and their awesome artists skills.
Later that day we visited Lord Sipan again, at the Royal Tombs Museum. In 1987 Walter Alva discovered what is now called the Lord of Sipan’s Tomb, nearby at Huacan Rajada. It was mainly undisturbed and contained ceremonial vessels, necklaces and jewellery. However the pyramids were actually broken into by a gang of thieves, who destroyed many artifacts, human remains and stole some of the collection there. Alva arrived the following day with the police in tow and made the site secure. A further 12 tombs were excavated.
The museum is wonderfully set out. The artefacts were photographed in situ, these photos were then displayed next to the exhibits. There was also an explanation of what the design on each item represented. It is such a simple and obvious idea but we haven’t really seen it before, and we felt a much clearer understanding of what we were seeing. The museum was built in such a way that you climb up above the Tomb, then descend through rooms containing the precious gold, body ornaments, jewellery etc found in the Tombs, then down to the Tomb itself, with the remains of Lord Sipan, and the sacrificed bodies of his priest and the 8 people to accompany him into the afterlife. Unfortunately only a few rooms were actually open to the public and awesome as they were we went away disappointed. Don’t worry though, we’re off to visit the actual site at Hucan Rajada in a few days!
