Museo Etnográfico

Location:
Malecón Tarapacá 386, at the corner of Tarapacá and Morona
Iquitos, Peru

Museum

By Kris Dreessen

The more than 70 statues of indigenous women, children, men and high chiefs of western Amazonia are the highlight of the Museo Etnográfico in Iquitos. Their creator preserved tribe members for all time in traditional dress and poses, as the region developed and tribes lost their foothold. The statues ring the museum courtyard, gleaming gold in the tropical sun. Members of the Shipibo, Iquitos, Yagua, Bora and several other tribes are represented. They are Fiberglas but look bronzed. One is frozen in time as he looks down and another is ready to let loose an arrow. A bare-chested chief in a 65-feather head dress holds his arms outstretched, his neck and wrists heavy with jewelry. He's captured with his eyes closed and his head tilted to the sky.

The museum is a restored 19th-century government building, designed with the flair of early Iquitos architecture. Visitors can tour the elegant dining room and side rooms that feature art, historic weaponry and a series of historic photographs of Iquitos. Take a seat in the rows of wooden chairs in the historic meeting hall and soak up ordered colonial ambiance. Hand-painted ceramic tiles imported from Portugal, called azulejos, brighten the centerpiece of the museum's central courtyard, glazed in blue, gold, green and red.

Price Description: Less than $1 (about 3 nuevos soles). Discounts for students and children.