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The exhibition sets out to discover the great figures and beliefs of these peoples through exceptional works linked to the rites of their civilizations.
Ceramics, funerary masks and gold ornaments speak of these rituals at the heart of which death was as important as life. Indeed, the Incas worshiped the ancestors and gave great care and daily attention to their dead.
Thanks to the dryness of their climate, the bodies of the deceased were dehydrated on the peaks and kept for centuries without mummification.
The Incas paid homage to their departed loved ones or to the deities through human sacrifice on special occasions. When a king died, his wives and servants were buried with him to escort him to the afterlife. The «Great Gift» or Qhapac Hucha cere- mony brought together the different provinces during wars or pandemics to make offerings of gold, silver, precious fabrics, cattle and young children whose hearts were torn out and who became the object of local cults.
The Incas had many parties, they toasted with their ancestors by drinking a lot of chicha, fermented corn beer that they also spilled on Mother Earth Pachamama to fertilize it and make it participate in the festivities.
Frontal headdress with feline and condors ML100770
Mochica Culture 100 - 800 AD J.-C.
18 carat gold 78.5% Au, 12.5% Ag and 9% Cu Length: 22.4cm Width: 25.6cm
Gold leaf thickness: 0.07 mm
North Coast © Larco Museum, Lima-Peru.