Museo Santuarios Andinos

Top choice in Arequipa


There’s an escalating drama to this theatrically presented museum, dedicated to the preserved body of a frozen ‘mummy,’ and its compulsory guided tour (free, but a tip is expected at the end). Spoiler: the climax is the vaguely macabre sight of poor Juanita, the 12-year-old Inca girl sacrificed to the gods in the 1450s and now eerily preserved in a glass refrigerator. Tours take about an hour and are conducted in Spanish, English and French.

Before presenting Juanita herself, well-versed student guides from the university lead you through a series of atmospheric, dimly lit rooms filled with artifacts from the expedition that found the ‘mummy.’ There is a beautifully shot 20-minute film about how Juanita, the so-called ‘Ice Maiden,’ was unearthed atop Nevado Ampato in 1995. From January to April, Juanita is switched for a different 'mummy' and placed in deep freeze in total darkness for conservation purposes.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Arequipa attractions

1. Museo de la Catedral

0.04 MILES

A must for visitors who want to see more of Arequipa's cathedral, the included 45-minute bilingual tour of this 'museum' is actually a peek at the inner…

2. Plaza de Armas

0.07 MILES

Arequipa’s main plaza, unblemished by modern interference, is a museum of the city’s sillar (volcanic rock) architecture – white, muscular and…

3. Iglesia de La Compañía

0.08 MILES

If Arequipa’s cathedral seems too big, an interesting antidote is this diminutive Jesuit church on the southeast corner of the Plaza de Armas. Proving…

4. San Ignacio Chapel

0.08 MILES

This chapel's polychrome cupola is smothered in jungle-like murals of tropical flowers, fruit and birds, among which mingle warriors and angels. It's…

6. Iglesia de San Agustín

0.11 MILES

This baroque church was originally constructed in 1575, destroyed in an earthquake in 1868 and then rebuilt by the end of that century. The exterior is…

7. La Catedral

0.12 MILES

This beautiful building on the Plaza de Armas stands out for its stark white sillar (volcanic rock) and massive size – it's the only cathedral in Peru…

8. Casona Iriberry

0.12 MILES

It's worth a peek inside this casona (large house); the Universidad Nacional de San Agustín (UNSA) is located within its 18th-century colonial halls and…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "peru/arequipa-and-canyon-country/arequipa/attractions/museo-santuarios-andinos/a/poi-sig/1271853/363389",
      "destination": "Arequipa",
      "continent": "South-America",
      "country": "Peru",
      "city": "Arequipa",
      "position": "superzone"
    }