The museum will hold over a half million artifacts of the Pre-Columbian era and Inca Empire, ranging back to 5,000 BCE.

[4] The idea was promoted again nearly two centuries later by Minister of Culture Diana Álvarez Calderón during the administration of President Ollanta Humala in 2013.

[2] The plan involved filling the new museum with pieces from the Museo de la Nación – the former Ministry of Fisheries headquarters from 1970 – and the National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology and History of Peru, which was outdated and did not have proper equipment to maintain the temperature and lighting of displays.

[4][9] During the government of Francisco Sagasti, the Ministry of Culture announced in November 2020 that the museum was destined to open in July 2021 for the celebration of Peru's two-hundredth anniversary of independence.

[4] One gallery featured information about the museum's background and construction while another highlighted how Peru's antiquities and culture were exploited by illicit trade.