Arequipa Museums

Museo Santuarios Andinos, La Merced 110 – Entrance $5 - Tel: +51 (54) 200 345 – 222554

This small museum exhibits collections of Incan-era artifacts, but the most famous item on display is unquestionably Juanita, the Ice Maiden of Ampato. This astounding local discovery was made near the summit of the nearby Sabancaya Volcano, by Miguel Zarate, Jose Chavez, and Johan Rienhard in 1995, after recent eruptions melted the ice in which the mummy was encased for approximately 550 years. The theory is that this 13 year-old girl was ritually sacrificed to the gods and buried in ice at 20,932 ft (6,380m). Frozen for centuries, Juanita is more a frozen body than a mummy, and visitors will be awed by how perfectly preserved and intact she remains. Also on display are some of the superb doll offerings and burial items found alongside Juanita's corpse, as well as three other sacrificial victims also found on the mountain. The mandatory guided visits, which begin with a superb National Geographic film, are very enlightening, and you should allow about an hour for your visit.

Museo de Arte Virreinal Santa Teresa,  Melgar 303, - Entrance $5 – Tel: +51 (54) 3064 8686

This museum of art from the viceroyal period is housed in the cloisters of the early 18th-century Santa Teresa Monastery. Housed within its stone walls is one of the best collections of paintings, sculptures, jewelry, decorative art, and daily objects from this era and from all of Peru. The museum’s Sala Capitular closely retains its original furnishing and décor, with walls entirely covered with an original 18th-century mural and unique decorative detailing.