MUSEO DE SITIO & PIRAMIDES DE TUCUME

The Túcume site is vast and is divided into two routes (Mirador and/or Huaca de las Balsas), plus a visit to the museum. It's best to go early in the morning, as the heat at the site is intense. This is one of the must-visits if you're interested in Moche culture. The site is pleasant, interesting and the museum very well done. It has been renovated, enlarged and is very didactic. The museum's dynamic team has established Túcume as one of the region's emblematic archaeological sites.

Numerous huacas in the region recall that from 1000 to 1470, when it fell to the Incas, the Mochica Empire was one of the most powerful in Peru. The Huaca Larga, with its gigantic dimensions (700 x 280 m and 30 m high), is the largest adobe construction in the world. The platform resting on the Cerro Purgatorio supported temples, dwellings, places of worship and burial. It's possible to climb up to it and enjoy a view of the surrounding arid landscape. In the Templo de la Piedra Sagrada, marked by a sloping polished stone, various types of offerings were unearthed: sacrificial llamas and 700 miniaturized silver figures. This temple, the most prestigious of the Mochica Empire, remained so under the Incas. The small Huaca de las Balsas retains its geometrically-patterned walls, notably the piqué bird symbolizing local Lambayeque culture. Very fine local crafts too.