Around 1000 years before the fall of the famous Inca Empire (1533), the northern Peruvian Moche culture (100 - 800 AD) was in its heyday. With around 250 exhibits from the museum's own rich collection as well as loans from domestic and foreign partner museums, the Museum zu Allerheiligen presents the fascinating Moche culture in a comprehensive exhibition for the first time ever in German-speaking Switzerland.
The route through the exhibition leads from the predecessor culture of the Cupisnique people via the nature and environment of northern Peru to topics such as music, beliefs, warfare and arts and crafts, and ends with the successors of the Moche, the Incas. Among other things, the exhibition brings to life what stupendous artisans the Moche were: The potters created masterful figurine vessels and ceramics with exquisite finely painted decoration. The metallurgists created the most precious jewels from gold, silver and copper. The objects tell of rituals and ceremonies and provide clues to the nature of the political elite and the social basis of the peasants. Attention is also paid to the history of archaeology in Peru. A Swiss researcher, Johann Jakob von Tschudi (1818-1889) from Glarus, was at the very beginning of this history. His watercolors of Moche objects and Peruvian landscapes provide a colorful and highly interesting Swiss reference. Lending institutions are the Ethnological Museum Berlin, the Linden-Museum Stuttgart, the Museum der Kulturen Basel, the Museum des Landes Glarus and the Museum Rietberg Zurich.
until May 26, 2024
www.allerheiligen.ch