This museum is houses in a beautiful colonial house. It contains artifacts from Machu Picchu that have been returned to Peru from Yale, where they were taken by Hiram Bingham between 1911-1919.

In an hour you can see the highlights, but if you’re caught in Cusco on a rainy day, you can stretch this museum to two hours. My favorite parts are the model of Machu Picchu downstairs and some of the historical photos from Bingham’s excavations at Machu Picchu.

The caption for the photo above reads: Melchor Arteaga, resident of Mandor Pampa and Bingham’s guide, crossing the Vilcanota River to reach Machu Picchu on the morning of July 24, 1911. After taking this image, Bingham crossed the same bridge.

Rest assured that the bridge across the river by Machu Picchu is nothing like that today!