In 1532 the Spanish conquistadors arrived in South America to find the Incas ruling a great empire. The diffusion of this important encounter meant that the most remembered Peruvian culture to date has been that of the Incas. However, civilization first emerged thousands of years before in ancient Peru.
In the centuries following the Spanish conquest, chroniclers wrote and illustrated reports or chronicles regarding all that occurred in the Americas. From these lands they frequently sent information, both written and illustrated, regarding the history of the region, paying particular attention to the government of the Incas.
Ancient Peruvians honored their gods with offerings and ceremonies and paid homage to their dead. The works of art that we see in museums were not usually objects intended for daily use. Although some of their apparently utilitarian forms may suggest such usages, their real function was to serve as spiritual rather than earthly objects.
As westernized people of the 21st century we no longer organize our societies in relation to life after death. It might be said that we pay homage to life itself, to our existence in the here and now. This way of thinking can make it difficult for us to understand ancient cultures like those which existed in Peru. These societies practiced the cult of the dead, and this enabled their people to make contact with other worlds: the underworld, inhabited by the dead, and the world above, which was where the gods dwelled.
Ancient Peruvians honored their gods with offerings and ceremonies and paid homage to their dead. The works of art that we see in museums were not usually objects intended for daily use. Although some of their apparently utilitarian forms may suggest such usages, their real function was to serve as spiritual rather than earthly objects.
The value attributed to textiles by pre-Columbian societies can be compared to the importance given to gold and silver. Textiles served as much more than clothing; they were also a medium for the spreading of religious ideas and for transmitting messages to the next world when they were employed to wrap the mortal remains of the dead. They also served as exquisite gifts for the rulers of these societies, as well as to denote social status.
After the Spanish conquest, the process known as “the extirpation of idolatries” sought to eliminate the indigenous forms of worship and beliefs which survived the conquest. These forms were fused or blended with the new ideas which had come from Europe, and under a new guise they continued to transmit their indigenous messages. This process is known as syncretism.
During the colonial period, Andean artists became engaged in reinterpreting the culture of Spain. They assimilated European techniques, adapting them to indigenous resources and practices. The artistic themes introduced by Europeans were blended with ancestral themes. Under a Christian guise, the myths and rites of the Andes were perpetuated.
The practice of human sacrifice was common to many ancient cultures. Death, the shedding of blood and physical mutilation ritually transformed the victim. The life being offered to the gods gave the transformed individual sacred status (sacrum facere).
The ritual combat ceremony and subsequent human sacrifice practiced by the Moche was not unique to this culture. In Mesoamerica we find the “Flower Wars” practiced by the Aztecs of Mexico, which ended with the ritual sacrifice of the defeated warriors. Among the Mayans, the ritual of the “ball game” appears to have culminated with the sacrifice of some of the players.
The most important ceremonies in the societies of ancient Peru were associated with fertility, sacrifice and the cult of the dead. In each of these three cases, the offering and exchange of fluids was central, and therefore containers for liquids were of particular importance.
Ancient Peruvians gave form to the different materials that nature offered them, creating items from clay, wood and metals. With these materials they made bowls, vessels and cups to hold ceremonial liquids such as water, fermented beverages and sacrificial blood.
In today’s world wars are motivated by political, territorial and economic interests. Nobody goes to war in gold and silver outfits, jewelry and crowns. The function of combat gear is to protect combatants and make them less vulnerable.
However, in their art pre-Columbian cultures represented warriors prepared for and participating in battle wearing luxurious clothing and adornments. Some of these items are not particularly functional in the context of an activity which requires movement, speed and efficiency when attacking. These adornments were used as religious and status symbols during combat which served a ceremonial function.
When the leaders of pre-Columbian societies died they aspired to a semi-divine status in order to draw closer to the gods. Funerary rituals were essential to the successful outcome of this transformation.
In the modern western world the dominant forces are those of technological progress and the improvement of quality of life. However, this “cult of life” has made it more difficult for us to connect with the immaterial aspects of existence which are also part of human experience.
The clothing and adornments used by the rulers of ancient Peru were symbols which denoted who they were during life and who they would become after death.
Throughout history, clothing has not only protected us from the natural elements, it has also enabled us to demonstrate who we are. Our clothing and adornments indicate our gender and social position, as well as our origins and what we do. This has been the case from the first moment when the members of a society felt the need to identify themselves as equals, as well as to differentiate themselves from others. Even today, members of a religion or the armed forces demonstrate that they belong to these institutions and their respective hierarchies through external indicators such as clothing.
In the Andean world, the jaguar and puma are major carnivores. These fierce and powerful big cats, which take the lives of other animals to ensure their own survival, symbolize the cyclical transformation necessary for life to flourish in the earthly world.
This female deity takes on the features of a bird (the celestial world), feline (earthly world) and serpent (underworld), transforming herself into an all-powerful being encompassing the forces of three worlds.
Ai Apaec is a mythological Mochica being with enormous fangs, a serpent belt and ear adornments, and he travels through different worlds in order to ensure the continuation of nature’s cycles.
Sculptural pottery vessels decorated with remarkably realistic portraits: The cadaverous face symbolizes the underworld, where the dead dwell; the man wearing a headdress represents the earthly world inhabited by humans; and the figure with feline fangs evokes the celestial world of the gods.
In nature, death is needed in order to give life. The human sacrifice depicted on this vessel is probably associated with the spring equinox. This is an important moment in the Andean agricultural calendar, announcing the coming of the rainy season.
This vessel symbolizes the duality and coming together of opposing yet complementary forces. Gold represents the sun, daytime, the dry season and maleness. Silver represents the moon, nighttime, the rainy season and femaleness.
This funerary bundle clothed in finery and a funerary mask contains the body of a child, wrapped in cloth. As occurred in ancient Egypt, the dead were carefully prepared for their journey into the underworld.
Leaders were crowned with decoration symbolizing their ability to act as intermediaries between different worlds, as in the case of this adornment, which depicts a powerful mythological being with feline, fox, bird, and serpent features.
This gold attire once belonged to a major leader of the mud brick city known as Chan Chan, the capital of the Chimú empire. The feathers on the crown, breastplate and epaulettes express the relationship between birds and the sun, in the celestial world.
Most of the world’s museums possess major reserves, access to which is restricted. Since it was established in 1926, the Museo Larco storerooms have been the only ones in Peru –and among the few anywhere in the world- open to the general public. In what is a unique experience, visitors can wander through these storerooms between rows of shelving containing 35,000 meticulously catalogued ancient pottery artifacts.
Lorem Ipsum es simplemente el texto de relleno de las imprentas y archivos de texto. Lorem Ipsum ha sido el texto de relleno estándar de las industrias desde el año 1500, cuando un impresor (N. del T. persona que se dedica a la imprenta) desconocido usó una galería de textos y los mezcló de tal manera que logró hacer un libro de textos especimen. No sólo sobrevivió 500 años, sino que tambien ingresó como texto de relleno en documentos electrónicos, quedando esencialmente igual al original. Fue popularizado en los 60s con la creación de las hojas "Letraset", las cuales contenian pasajes de Lorem Ipsum, y más recientemente con software de autoedición, como por ejemplo Aldus PageMaker, el cual incluye versiones de Lorem Ipsum.
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Lorem Ipsum es simplemente el texto de relleno de las imprentas y archivos de texto. Lorem Ipsum ha sido el texto de relleno estándar de las industrias desde el año 1500, cuando un impresor (N. del T. persona que se dedica a la imprenta) desconocido usó una galería de textos y los mezcló de tal manera que logró hacer un libro de textos especimen. No sólo sobrevivió 500 años, sino que tambien ingresó como texto de relleno en documentos electrónicos, quedando esencialmente igual al original. Fue popularizado en los 60s con la creación de las hojas "Letraset", las cuales contenian pasajes de Lorem Ipsum, y más recientemente con software de autoedición, como por ejemplo Aldus PageMaker, el cual incluye versiones de Lorem Ipsum.
