New Machu Picchu Exhibit Opens in Cusco Showcasing Artifacts Returned by Yale
Inca Treasures Return Home
On August 10th, the Casa Concha in Cusco inaugurated a display of more than 360 artifacts from Machu Picchu for two weeks only. The artifacts in question have special significance for Peruvians because they´ve been in the possession of Yale University for almost a century, ever since Hiram Bingham excavated them and exported them for study in 1912 through 1916. An agreement was reached for the return of the objects after years of legal and political wrangling. These are part of the first shipments of objects to be repatriated, from a total 46,635 fragments and artifacts (the remainder is expected by December 2012). The exhibit displays ceramics, stone objects, metal items including jewelry and tumi ceremonial knives, and human bones. The expeditions in the high Andean Machu Picchu site even unearthed marine objects from the coastal region. ENTRY IS FREE for Cusqueños and tourists alike (ID required).
These artifacts originally arrived in Lima, 
where they were exhibited for a short period before coming to Cusco. Again, they were only displayed for a short time due to the lack of suitable museum equipment for preserving and exhibiting them. During that time notable figures such as Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa came to view the long-lost Inca treasures. This week´s inauguration was overseen by the Rector and the Deacon of the National University of San Antonio Abad of Cusco (UNSAAC), which operates Casa Concha and is building a new museum and research center for the artifacts, currently housed in two exhibition halls, with 2 patios reserved for local and foreign researchers.
Where is It?
The exhibition is housed on the 2nd floor of Casa Concha on Santa Catalina Ancha Street, located just half a block from the Plaza de Armas. Pirwa Hostels and B&Bs has one local right on the Plaza de Armas, Pirwa Corregidor B&B, one local around the corner from the plaza, Pirwa Suecia B&B, and one in the smaller San Francisco Plaza next to the Plaza de Armas, Pirwa Colonial Backpackers Hostel. The photo at left shows the view of the plaza from the balcony of Pirwa Corregidor´s on-site eatery, Plus Restaurant. The church you see is the same in the background of the photo of the Casa Concha patio below, so you´ll find it easy to get there, and under ten minutes walking. As always, we pride ourselves on our central locations near the action!
The Casa Concha dates back to the 17th and 18th 
century and is one of the city´s clearest examples of mestizo architecture, marked by intricate colonial woodwork. It has more than 70 rooms and 4 patios in addition to the main patio shown at the right, with the churches of the Plaza de Armas in the background. It once served as the residence of Marquis Don José Santiago Concha and Salvatierra Márquez. Leading into the exhibition halls where the new exhibit is displayed are religious murals painted by the Dominicans. After more than 2 years of reconstruction and restoration it passed from the National Institute of Culture to the National University of San Antonio, the new overseer of both the Casa Concha and the Machu Picchu Yale artifacts, those which have already arrived and those which are anxiously expected.