Highlights include the Raimondi Stele and the Tello Obelisk from Chavín de Huantar, and an impressive scale model of the Incan citadel, Machu Picchu.

Tello was in charge of increasing this collection based on excavations and archaeological research in various places in Peru, as well as appropriate restoration and conservation.

One of the tasks of this institution, whose direction fell to Luis E. Valcárcel, was to supervise the creation of other museums in various cities in Peru.

Some thieves were able to bypass the security system and steal about 220 pieces of gold and silver, including the Tumi lambayeque [es].

[1] The MNAAHP has an enormous variety of historical cultural objects from Peruvian history, housing more than 300,000 pieces that cover the entire human occupation of what is now Peru.

Among its most important treasures are the Crossed Hands of Kotosh, the Raimondi Stele of Chavín, the Tello Obelisk, mantles from Paracas, and various paintings from the viceregal period, mainly from the Cuzco School of painting, and from the Republican period, including works by some renowned painters such as José Gil de Castro.