Peru -- Primarily Machu Picchu (Dec 2010)

This is a quite interesting thing I don't recall seeing at any other museum. In addition to the "best" pieces carefully displayed in lighted glass display cases, they also allowed visitors to go thru their "back room" storehouse. Here thay had pieces that (I'm guessing" were of lower quality or poorer condition than the on-display pieces. However, these rooms provide some idea of the number of pieces in the museum's collection (the quantity they have in addition to the quality).

The pieces in these rooms have been arranged and are stored by type of object. They have maybe 5 rooms with rows of "library"-type shelving in each room (the room is full of shelving; it's not just shelves on the walls of the rooms. I'm guessing what's shown in this photo is perhaps 1% of what they had in those storage rooms.

These pieces are, of course, "on display"too. However, they are not as carefully lighted and arranged as in the main museum. Also, I believe there were only tiny labels and perhaps an occasional 3 x 5 card describing (in Spanish) what these items are, with maybe one label or card descirbing the (similar) type of things on perhaps 4 or 5 shelves.