Museo Cassinelli

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Buried deep within the basement of a grimy Mobil station on the edge of town is the Museo Cassinelli (Nicolas de Pierola 601, 9 a.m.–1 p.m. and 4–7 p.m. Mon.–Fri., 9 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Sat., US$2). This fabulous collection of ancient ceramics was assembled, piece by piece, over four decades of haggling between Señor Cassinelli and the local community of huaqueros (grave robbers).

There are pieces here you won’t see anywhere else in Peru: an enigmatic Moche pot of a bearded man (a Viking?) and a ceramic partridge from the Huari civilization that doubles as a bird whistle.

Make sure to have the museum keeper open the locked erotic collection, which depicts masturbation, anal intercourse, necrophilia, and nearly every conceivable sexual practice from Moche and earlier cultures. There is even a penis-shaped chicha vase from which brides reportedly drank during Moche weddings!

© Ross Wehner and Renée del Gaudio from Moon Peru, 3rd Edition

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