Museo de Sitio Huaca Pucllana

What makes it special

Look closely at any exposed wall. The small sun-dried bricks of clay and straw stand on edge with gaps between them, like books on a shelf, and each row sits on a layer of clay that levels it and binds it to the next. The gaps help the walls ride out earthquakes.

The Lima culture raised the pyramid between 400 and 700 AD as a ceremonial centre, first as great masses of mud and later faced with the small bricks. On top lies a Wari burial, from a later people who used the site as a cemetery.

Excavation is still going on, so parts of the site are open trenches where you can see the digging in progress. In the museum room, mannequins wear clothing reconstructed from what has been found on the site, down to the materials and colours.

Visiting

First comes a technical scale model of the whole site, shown at the base of the truncated pyramid, so you see the layout before you walk into it. From there the guided circuit leads through the plazas, enclosures and passages of the pyramid itself.

Along the way it takes in the new Mirador de los Apus viewpoint, the exhibition room of the site museum and a park of native plants. You may also see llamas, alpacas or guinea pigs in a small enclosure, though they are not there on every visit.

Guided or on your own

Every visit is guided, so your choices are the language and the hour. Guides lead the circuit in Spanish or English.

Night visits walk the same pyramid after dark. If you only come once, come by day, when the brick walls are easiest to see up close.

Tips

Before the group moves off, ask the guide to trace the route on the scale model, because the passages wind and cross once you are among them. That way you know where each stop sits on the plan as you reach it.

A restaurant inside the complex lets you stay on to eat after the circuit.