Hans Heinrich Brüning

Hans Heinrich (Enrique) Brüning (Aug. 20, 1848, Hoffeld - July 2, 1928, Bordesholm) was a German-born Peruvian ethnologist and collector of antiquities.

At the age of 27, he decided to emigrate to Peru, where he immediately found employment as a mechanic on a sugar plantation in Pátapo.

In 1902, Brüning joined a risky expedition to find the shortest route between the Marañon basin and the Pacific coast.

The Moches resisted his efforts to study them, but Brüning was patient and eventually gained their confidence by participating in their local rituals.

They were put on display in 1924 and he was named the museum's first director (with a salary of four Soles per month), but his tenure was short because he was in poor health, which prompted him to return to Germany for good in 1925.