Royal Tombs of Sipán Museum
Purpose-built museum near Chiclayo holding the Moche royal burials excavated at Sipán in 1987.
The museum was created to hold the contents of the tomb of the Lord of Sipán, a Moche ruler of about the third century AD whose undisturbed burial was excavated in 1987 by the Peruvian archaeologist Walter Alva at Huaca Rajada, some 35 kilometres east of Chiclayo. Opened in November 2002, it displays the gold, silver, copper and turquoise regalia found with him, together with the burials known as the Old Lord of Sipán and the Priest, and hundreds of ceramic vessels and textiles.
The building by the architect Celso Prado Pastor is a red, windowless volume whose stepped form recalls the truncated adobe pyramids of the Moche. Visitors ride to the top floor and work downwards through three levels, a sequence that follows the descent into the tomb itself and ends at a reconstruction of the burial chamber. The museum forms part of the Naylamp special project of the Ministry of Culture, which also runs other sites in the Lambayeque valley.
Highlights
- Gold and turquoise regalia from the tomb of the Lord of Sipán
- Reconstruction of the intact Moche burial chamber
- Red stepped building recalling Moche adobe pyramids
- Descending route from the top floor down through three levels
![[King Thibaw Min's Throne Room - Mandalay]title QS:P1476,en:"[King Thibaw Min's Throne Room - Mandalay]"label QS:Len,"[King Thibaw Min's Throne Room - Mandalay]"](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/Felice_Beato_%28British%2C_born_Italy_-_%28King_Thibaw_Min%27s_Throne_Room_-_Mandalay%29_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg/500px-Felice_Beato_%28British%2C_born_Italy_-_%28King_Thibaw_Min%27s_Throne_Room_-_Mandalay%29_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
