MUSEO DE ARTE DE LIMA

MUSEUM OF ART OF LIMA - MUSEO DE ARTE DE LIMA

In 1954, a small group of 25 industralists and intellectuals formed an association with the name of Patronage of the Arts with the eagerness to impel the culture and the art in Peru. Its main objective was the foundation of a museum of art in the country, that could fill one of the great emptinesses that then existed.

In support to the initiative to create a museum of art in the city, the Municipality of Lima yielded in 1954 to the Patronage of the Arts the old Palace of the Exhibition. With the support of UNESCO, architect Hans Asplund and the museólogo Alfred Westholm they formulated the first modern project for a Peruvian museum, counting on the collaboration of architects Héctor Velarde and Jose Garci'a Bryce. The initial stage of restoration of the building, endorsed by the Peruvian State and the government of France, was inaugurated in 1957, with occasion of a great exhibition on the industry and the French culture. Finally, the 10 of March of 1961 the Museum of Art of Lima was inaugurated officially. President Manuel Prado, to name of the families Prado and Peña Prado, made delivery to the patronage of the valuable donation that constitutes the Memory Prado, formed at beginnings of century XX by the illustrious intellectual Javier Prado and Ugarteche. This legacy allowed the Patronage to imagine the possibility of forming a panorama of the art in Peru, from the pre-Columbian time to beginnings of century XX, and continues forming to today the central nucleus of the collections of the museum.

http://museoarte.perucultural.org.pe/delmuseo41.shtml