The Incas ruled a huge empire that they incorporated in campaigns of conquest against much older high cultures. The gold treasures and cultural goods of the pre-Inca cultures, such as the Moche, Chimú Nazca, and Chavín, helped shape the mythic aura that still surrounds the gold of the Incas. For the Incas, gold had an ideal meaning and took on value only after being transformed into a symbolic shape. The jewelry was used in its significance as a mediator between the world of humans and the world of the gods.
This richly illustrated book, which appeared on the occasion of the great special exhibition of the UNESCO World Cultural Legacy Völklinger Hütte (July 2004 to April 2005), presents for the first time in the German-speaking realm about 120 masterpieces from the Larco Museum Peru: gold objects, crowns, headdresses, ear pegs, and other cult objects. Items from Stuttgart’s Linden Museum supplement the collection.
Along with the gold objects, the illustrated book shows numerous ceramic pieces, almost unknown in Europe, from the pre-Inca cultures, including the erotic ceramics of the Moche, whose meaning still poses riddles today.
The introductory texts were written by Andrés Alvarez Calderón Larco (Larco Museum Peru), Meinrad M. Grewenig (Völklinger Hütte), Doris Kuralla (Linden Museum), and Ramiro Salas Bravo (Minister of Tourism, Peru); the explanatory texts on the objects are by Dietmar Neitzke (cultural researcher).
Also available in english/french: ISBN 978-3-936636-49-9
Editor: Meinrad Maria Grewenig
Authors: Andrečs Alvarez-Calderón Larco, Doris Kurella, Ramiro Salas Bravo
Hardcover
23 x 28 cm
224 pages
178 color illustrations
German
available
ISBN 978-3-936636-36-9
34,80 Euro
2004
