About us
The MALI’s permanent collection preserves more than 18,000 pieces –among textiles, ceramics, metal work, photography, drawings and paintings– that witness to more than 3,000 years of art history in Peru. The museum exhibits the artworks in the permanent galleries in a sequential way divided in four sections: pre-Columbian, Colonial, Republican and Modern art. It also has galleries for temporary exhibitions of national and international artists. MALI is located in the heart of downtown Lima and provides the opportunity for a first approach to Peru, through its great masterpieces.
The Museum of Art of Lima (MALI) offers the opportunity to get to know Peruvian art from increasingly broad and varied perspectives. The institution, which houses a panoramic collection of Peruvian art through the ages, seeks to be a collaborative and interdisciplinary platform of art and culture, with an identity anchored in the local, but that operates in a regional and even global way.
the preservation of local memory and the expansion of access to the arts and their enjoyment, contributing to reflection on a common history, to the formation of better citizens and a sensitive public sphere.
- The principal aims of the museum are:
- The scientific investigation of the collections
- Passing on a clear understanding of the exhibits
- The preservation of these unique collections for future generations
In 1954 a group of businessmen and intellectuals, concerned with promoting culture and the arts in Peru, formed an association called the Patronato de las Artes. Its main objective was to found an art museum in Lima. In support of this initiative, the Municipality of Lima offered the Palacio de la Exposición to house the future Museum. With the help of UNESCO, architect Hans Asplund and the museologist Alfred Westholm formulated the first modern project for a Peruvian museum. The initial restoration of the building, undertaken with support of the Peruvian and the French Governments, was inaugurated in 1957, on the occasion of a large French industrial and cultural exposition.