Description of the attraction
The Private Archaeological Museum of Cassinelli began its activity in January 1971, offering its visitors to get acquainted with archaeological artifacts found in Latin America from the Chavin culture (1500 BC) to the Inca culture (1532 AD).
The history of this museum is closely connected with Jose Luis Cassinelli Mazzei, who devoted his whole life to searching for exhibits related to the "art of ancient Peru". He managed to collect a fairly large collection of objects - products of ancient artisans made of stone, bone, textiles, metal. Its collection contains more than 6,000 ceramics of amazing beauty, made by artisans of twenty large pre-Columbian cultures of Mochica, Nazca, Recuay, etc.
The museum also possesses a valuable collection of jewelry made of gold and silver, a collection of textiles and other archaeological objects of the Chavin, Moche, Chimu cultures. The main attention in this exhibition is given to ceramic portrait vessels - huaco.
The idea of collecting antiquities was obviously born with a sense of love for Peru, which led Jose Cassinelli over 60 years - from buying a small ceramic figurine - to the birth of a museum. Unfortunately, Casinelli died on March 8, 2012. His children are now fulfilling their father's dream of moving the collection to a safe place to protect cultural heritage. During his lifetime, Jose Cassinelli worked on a project for a new museum building, which was supposed to be located near the city. This complex is being prepared for construction mainly with donations from individuals. It remains only to regulate some legal issues with government services and make Jose Cassinelli's dream come true.
