Cultural Policy in Peru

Cultural policy
Il
in Peru i
Prepared by the National Institute of Culture

Studies and documents on cultural policies
In tbis series :
Cultural policy : a preliminary study
Cultural policy in the United States, by Charles C. Mark
Cultural rights as human rights
Cultural policy in Japan. by Nobuya Shikaumi
Some aspects of French cultural policy, by the Studies and Research Department of the French
Ministry of Culture
Cultural policy in Tunisia,by R& Said
Cultural policy in Great Britain, by Michael Green and Michael Wilding, in consultation with
Richard Hoggart
Cultural policy in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics,by A. A. Zvorykin with the assistance of
N. I. Golubtsova and E. I. Rabinovitch
Cultural Doliev in Czechoslovakia, - by- Miroslav Marek with the assistance of Milan Hromidka and
Josef bro&
Cdtural policy in Italy, a survey prepared under the auspices of the Italian National Commission
for Unesco
Cultural policy in Yugoslavia,by Stevan Majstorovid
Cultural policy in Bulgaria,by Kostadine Popov
Some aspects of culturalpolicies in India,by Kapila Malik Vatsyayan
Cultural policy in Cuba, by Lisandro Otero with the assistance of Francisco Martínez Hinojosa
Cultural policy in Egypt, by Magdi W a h b a
Culturalpolicy in Finland,a study prepared under the auspices of the Finnish National Commisson
for Unesco
Cultural policy in Sri Lanka, by H.H.Bandara
Cultural policy in Nigeria,by T.A. Fasuyi
Cultural policy in Iran, by Djamchid Behnam
Cultural policy in Polund,by Stanislaw Witold Balicki, Jerry Kossak and Miroslaw Zulawski
The role of culture in leisure time in New Zealand, by Bernard W.Smyth
Cultural policy in Israel,by Jozeph Michman
Culturd policy in Senegal,by Mamadou Seyni MBengue
Culturalpolicy in the Federal Republic of Germany, a study prepared under the auspices of the
German Commission for Unesco
Cultural policy in Indonesia, a study prepared by the staff of the Directorate-General of Culture,
Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia
Cultural policy in the Philippines, a study prepared under the auspices of the Unesco National
Commission of the Philippines
Cultural policy in Liberia,by Kenneth Y.Best
Cultural policy in Hungary, a survey prepared under the auspices of the Hungarian National
Commission for Unesco
The culturalpolicy of the United Republic of Tanzania,by L. A. Mbughuni
Cultural policy in Kenya, by Rivuto Ndeti
Cultural policy in Romania, by Ion Dodu Balan with the co-operation of the Directorates of the
Council of Socialist Culture and Education
Cultural policy in the German DemocraticRepublic,by Hans Koch
Cultural policy in Afghanialan,by S h d e Rahe1
Cultural policy in the United Republic of Cameroon,by J. C. Bahoken and Englebert Atangana
Some aspects of cultural policy in Togo,by K.M. Aithnard
Culturalpolicy in theRepublic of Zaire,a study prepared nnder the direction of DIBokonga Ekanga
Botombele
Cultural policy in Ghana,a study prepared by the Cultural Division of the Ministry of Education
and Culture, Accra
Cultural policy in the Republic of Korea, by Kim Yersu
Aspects of Canadian cultural policy, by D.Paul Schafer
Cultural policy in Costa Rica, by Samuel Rovinski
Cultural policy in Jamaica,a study prepared by the Institute of Jamaica
Cultural policy in Guyana,by A. J. Seymour
Cultural policy in Peru, by the National Institute of Culture
The serial numbering of titles in this series, the presentation of which has been modified, was
discontinued with the volume Cultural policy in Italy
Published in 1977 by the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization,
7 Place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris
Printed by Imprimerie des Presses Universitaires
de France, Vendôme
ISBN 92-3-101470-6
Politica cultural del Perú 92-3-301470-3
0 Unesco 1977
Printed in France.
Preface
T h e purpose of this series is to show how cultural policies are planned and
implemented in various Member States.
As cultures differ, so does the approach to them; it is for each Member
State to determine its cultural policy and methods according to its own
conception of culture, its socio-economic system, political ideology and
technological development. However, the methods of cultural policy (like
those of general development policy) have certain c o m m o n problems; these
are largely institutional, administrative and financial in nature, and the
need has increasingly been stressed for exchanging experiences and infor-
mation about them. This series, each issue of which follows as far as possible
a similar pattern so as to m a k e comparison easier, is mainly concerned with
these technical aspects of cultural policy.
In general, the studies deal with the principles and methods of cultural
policy, the evaluation of cultural needs, administrative structures and
management, planning and financing, the organization of resources, legis-
lation, budgeting, public and private institutions,cultural content in edu-
cation, cultural autonomy and decentralization, the training of personnel,
institutional infrastructures for meeting specific cultural needs, the safe-
guarding of the cultural heritage, institutions for the dissemination of the
arts, international cultural co-operation and other related subjects.
The studies, which cover countries belonging to differing social and
economic systems, geographical areas and levels of development, present
therefore a wide variety of approaches and methods in cultural policy.
Taken as a whole, t'hdy can provide guidelines for countries which have yet
. to establish cultural policies, while all countries, especially those seeking
n e wformulations of such policies, can profit by the experience already gained.
This study was prepared for Unesco by the National Institute of
Culture, Lima.
The opinions expressed are the authors' and do not necessarily re%ect
the views of Unesco.
Contents
9 Introduction
11 Bases of the cultural policy
of the Peruvian Revolution
Preliminary considerations 11
Historical background 13
T h e revolutionary idea of culture 14
Basic principles
of a revolutionary cultural policy 15
Distribution of roles in cultural action 19
Constant components of cultural action 23
Final consideration 25
26 The National Institute of Culture
Background 26
Organic structure 26
Aims, objectives and responsibilities
of the institute 28
Cultural promotion 29
Cultural activities 32
Conservation of national monuments
and the cultural heritage 39
Regional museums 58
Centre for the Investigation
and Restoration of Monuments 59
T h e National Institute of Culture
and the COPESCO Plan 63
Training in the arts 65
Introduction
This study is made up of two parts. In the first, Bases of the Cultura1
Policy of the Peruvian Revolution, an attempt is made, in the context of
the changes taking place in Peru, to analyse our cultural situation and give
a coherent account of the action of the State in the field of culture. The
document was prepared in 1975 by the General Cultural Board, which is
the principal advisory body of the National Institute of Culture.
The second part deals with the National Institute of Culture, a decen-
tralized public body in the education sector, which is responsible for
proposing and implementing the cultural policy of the State in the various
fields within its sphere of action, including cultural promotion, cultural
dissemination, the preservation of the monumental and cultural heritage
and training in the arts.
9
Bases of the cultural policy
of the Peruvian Revolution
Preliminary considerations
In the course of the development of the social sciences in this century, the
idea of ‘culture’has been defined in a variety of ways. A well-known book
published by Alfred L. Kroeber in the 1940s contains more than two
hundred different definitions of ‘culture’.
A m o n g field anthropologists the idea has been gaining ground that
‘culture’is the sum total of the ways in which a given society expresses
itself and acts-its customs and institutions, its beliefs and myths, its
family organization, its tools, weapons, clothing, forms of government,
meals, songs, funerary practices, etc. This overall interpretation of the
term has yielded excellent practical results in inventories made by field
anthropologists and has been adopted by a number of social science
disciplines.
According to Peruvian Revolutionary beliefs, culture is essentially the
active and dynamic complex of values, both material and symbolic, which
stimulate, govern and regulate from within, daily relations between indi-
viduals and social groups in the community. Culture, thus understood,
embraces the mode and quality of life in the community. Hence economics
and politics, science and education, morality and art, research and tech-
nology, work and leisure, as well as the various kinds of relations between
people in their place of work, the home, the neighbourhood and the munici-
pality constitute, in practice, different and complementary dimensions of
the national culture. Viewed in this way, culture is seen to be the very
fabric of daily life, and nothing that occurs in life is extraneous to it.l
There is however a more restricted meaning of ‘culture’, which is
accepted by international consensus and, accordingly, there are in all
1. Speech by the Peruvian Minister of Education, General R a m ó n Miranda Ampuero, at

the National Institute of Culture (on 7 January 1976).
11
Bases of the cultural policy of the Peruvian Revolution
countries of the world cultural organizations carrying on closely related

activities in the fields of art, technology and science.
This restricted sense of the word ‘culture’is universally accepted in the
contemporary world of administration, and in every country or inter-
national organization (e.g. Unesco) there are offices, secretariats,ministries,
institutes, departments dealing with ‘culture’, ‘education and culture’,
Lculture and science’, etc. In Peru, the expression ‘culture’is used in this
sense only for operational and administrative purposes, but with a clear
awareness of the danger that this limitation m a y entail-that of restricting
or dividing up the sphere of culture, so that it applies only to the private
and specialized field of certain professional élites.
The humanistic outlook of the Peruvian Revolution means that the
community, its basic organizations and workers in science and culture are
seen as the collective subjects of cultural development, as its source and
its end.
The cultural policy of the Peruvian Revolution must find expression in
a series of practical achievements based on principles corresponding to the
plans for the new society which the Revolution seeks to build. T h e aim is
to bring into being a cultural community which, in the intellectual, scien-
tific, artistic, technical and other fields, is a faithful reflection of that
society and expresses the thought and action of the new Peruvians.
The transformation of economic structures and the creation of a just
society, with real-not merely theoretical-equality of opportunity for all
m e n and women is a fundamental condition for the formulation and appli-
cation of a revolutionary cultural policy. What is more, there is a deep-
seated connection not only between cultural policy and the elimination of
injustice, but also between culture and the new education. Education
complements economic liberation and enables the individual to fulfil himself
by developing his spiritual, intellectual and moral potential.
All revolutionary cultural policies must therefore be founded on a just
social order and on education that is of an integrating, critical, creative
and liberating nature. In stressing this relation, it is well to point out the
link between a cultural policy, as described here, and the profound and
far-reaching reform being carried out by the Ministry of Education.
Sections I and II of the Statement of Principles of the General Law
concerning Education-Decree Law No. 19326-constitute the foundation
for a truly revolutionary cultural policy. The formulation of a new cultural
policy must be based on those principles if it is to be in line with the process
of arousing the awareness and raising the level of attainment of Peruvian
citizens which is now taking place.
12
Historical background
STRUCTURAL DOMINATION
In cultural matters, Peru, like most countries in our subcontinent,has

suffered the logical consequences of a structural domination which goes
back even before the Spanish conquest,at least to the Empire of the Incas.
Domination necessarily brings with it the phenomena of disintegration,
marginalization and centralizationwhich are characteristic of the condition
of dependence. Such dependence,furthermore, not only implies external
control over the whole of society, but also gives rise to successive internal
forms of domination,with their concomitants ofregional or ethnic isolation,
priority being given to certain partial forms and contents over others.
However, the economic aspect of domination is not necessarily to be
identified with the cultural aspect,for they do not always coincide. In the
first place, ‘culturalcolonialism’is primarily an urban phenomenon which
in many cases does not extend to the countryside,or affects it only par-
tially.This is shown by the fact that,for centuries,the tyrannical economic
exploitation of the Indian by Spanish overlords from beyond the seas did
not irreversibly destroy his inner world, with its traditional outlook and
mythical values,which the rulers failed to appreciate.
CULTURAL DIVERSITY
Peruvian society is built upon a succession of native cultures;well before

the Spanish conquest, a complex of different cultural forms was in exist-
ence, some of which were amalgamated and coexisted under the Inca
Empire. W h e n Western culture reached the Americas and took hold there,
this in turn led to a succession of complex cultural contributions, first
through the Spanish vice-royaltyand, following the political emancipation
of Spanish America, through the republic. The latter, having put an end
to the relative isolation of the colonial period, became receptive to the
cultural influences of the West, principally those stemming from the suc-
cessive economic and ideological relations with countries such as France,
the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
This explains one of the principal characteristics of the pluricultural
and plurilinguistic image of contemporary Peru-the diversity of its
sources, some of which, powerful and deep-flowingas they are, will inevi-
tably make the process of cultural integration di5cult and slow. Without
jeopardizing the unity which is to be achieved,this process will probably
leave substantialregionaltraces,the coexistence ofwhich will undoubtedly
prove interesting.
13
ERRONEOUS IDEAS ABOUT CULTURAL LIFE
Not always unconsciously, traditional governments, foreign and national

centres of economic power and, later, the mass communication media have
combined to dehe, within the capitalistic structure of Peruvian society,
a number of ideas, according to which cultural life was considered to be:
A luxury, comprising unnecessary activities carried on by the individual
and society, which was regarded as an acceptable occupation in so far
as it was healthy entertainment and relaxation, and indeed advisable,
once other more important tasks had been accomplished, for the indi-
vidual’s self-fulíilment. There was no awareness that culture was of
profound importance for the development of the person and the
community.
A n activity for the élite-those who were specially gifted in certain fields
of thought, art and science-and consequently beyond the reach of
most people.
A n activity which could properly be promoted by judicious and lucrative
commercialization, resulting in the production of cultural goods that
would be in demand in a consumer society.
In some cases, an activity that was tendentious or even actually subversive,
one which had to be stopped and crushed, if not severely punished.
In such circumstances, it was natural that cultural coteries or circles should
be formed and that the material and moral bases needed for the develop-
ment and continuity of autochthonous cultural forms should be lacking.
The revolutionary idea of culture
W h e n the Peruvian Revolution was launched, it became more urgent-and

more feasible than before-that we should gradually build up a national
culture that would express our identity and combine an autonomy that
can never be relinquished with the universal character that every culture
sure of itself must have.
The new role assumed by the Revolutionary State and the newly
founded basic social bodies, which provide for participation, calls for the
formulation of a humanistic-revolutionary cultural policy that can give
expression to what was previously unco-ordinated and oppressed. The
Peruvian Revolutionary process, which is inimical to all forms of monop-
olistic concentration of power, thus requires a cultural policy which takes
into account the need to open up all avenues leading to creative activity
among the people and at the s a m e time to reject commercial as well as
State forms of control, which are equally pernicious ways of stifling free
cultural expression.
In drawing up its cultural policy, the Peruvian Revolution, the basis
of which is a social democracy with provision for participation, aims at
14
providing conditions which will enable Peruvian m e n and women to

exercise their critical judgement and develop their creative abilities, so
that their cultural expression m a y reflect the nation’s authentic person-
ality.By virtue of its participatory and humanistic character,the Peruvian
Revolution further requires the establishment of a cultural policy which
will enable all Peruvians, through the exercise of their freedom, to recover
their capacity for self-assessment.
A cultural policy should be founded on the principles of freedom and
social justice, the safeguarding and promotion of national and universal
cultural values, the availability of such values to all the social sectors of
the country, and a direct connection between the cultural policy and edu-
cation. The new Peruvian education system lays down guidelines for all
these factors, breaking up the classical moulds of exclusivity in education,
so that all members of society are either teachers or pupils. These guidelines
will form the channel for the spiritual current needed to generate an
authentic national culture.
Basic principles of a revolutionary cultural policy
DECOLONIZATION OF CULTURE
A society with the characteristics proclaimed by the Peruvian Revolution,

which is marked by its rejection of all types of domination by some nations
or individuals over others, must deliberately adopt an unmistakably anti-
imperialist and anti-colonialistposition. This undeniable fact also m e a n s
that the slightest trace of xenophobia should be definitely repudiated, so
that there is always a distinction between cultural domination and fruitful
cultural exchanges.
CuItural decolonization must be looked upon as a dialectical process
wherein the affirmation of a national identity often calls for the intelligent
use of any human achievement, whatever its origin, which m a y contribute
to that end. If this is true in the economic field, where the nationaliz-
ation-not the elimination-of certain firms (and, so far as possible, their
technology) is the truly revolutionary way, it is even more so in the field
of culture. In science, art and technology, a revolutionary cultural policy
will favour the nationalization-or assimilation-of all that we need, and
at the same time greater appreciation of native or locally developed skilIs
and techniques and the attainment of higher standards in them.A n example
of such a combination can be found in medicine and pharmacy: a revol-
utionary society in the Third World, and specifically a Latin American
and Andean one such as ours, must be able to use modern, industrially
produced antibiotics as well as those traditional remedies which are often
unjustifiably overlooked or rejected. Similarly, we must combine training
in the use of the most advanced ‘Western’technology with training which
15
will enable us to study, systematize and apply the beneficial discoveries of

regional and traditional medicine and pharmacy.
Hence our anti-imperialist and decolonialist cultural policy should
combine the rejection of inappropriate foreign cultural values with the
establishment of suitablemodels, constantlyenriched by contributionsfrom
other countries which are the fruit of a just and free interchange.
GREATER APPRECIATION
OF POPULAR CULTURE
Since the aim of a humanistic-revolutionary cultural policy is to replace

classical culture by a culture which is not limited to any one race, sex,
nationality or creed,the m a n y factors which are apt to distort it must be
taken into account. One of these is the frequent confusion between ‘popular
culture’ and ‘mass culture’, and we shall therefore draw the following
distinction:
Popular culture is the fund of culture-which is never pure, but basi-
cally authentic-of the various sectors of the population. This means that
a people’s existence and its creative work should be one, so that it has its
o w n characteristics and personality. At the level of artistic creation,
popular culture comprises three aspects: (a) anonymous tradition (folklore);
(b) the works of known authors, written in a folkloric style, which are
traditional,but inevitably bear the author’s stamp;and (c) popular works
written in a free style, which are not traditional,but m a y become so if,
by virtue of their inherent qualities, they become popular, are praised and
change,until they are perfectly adapted to the popular mentality; as the
generations pass they become anonymous, but they enrich the natural
dynamics of folklore.
Mass culture, on the contrary, is the by-product imposed on these
sectors by those inside or outside the country who have been in a position
of economic,social,political or cultural domination. Culture of the masses,
or for the masses,is nothmg more than the reverse side of the élitist fabric
of societies which are divided into classes and socio-economic,religious or
ethnic groups, and which provide their educated minorities with oppor-
tunities to enjoy and understand those examples of universal culture that
are considered most worthwhile and impressive.
This essentially urban phenomenon, which is brought about by popu-
lation density and the advertising of consumer societies through the mass
communication media, gives rise to the following undesirable character-
istics: (a) depersonalization of the ordinary man, or, in other words, the
impairment of his ‘originality’as a person,by the transfer to him of foreign
ideas and criteria as a result of the standardization produced by adver-
tising;(b) alienation,which is not only the transfer of foreign content,but
the impairment of the identity of the individual through the adoption of an
alien identity,to which he aspires because of its prestige.
16
So, in the stage of revolutionary transition towards a social democracy

based on participation, a sharp distinction must be made, in regard to
cultural policy, between these two antagonistic but coexisting phenomena.
Measures designed to increase appreciation of popular culture, that
must be taken with the support of the revolutionary state and the basic
social bodies, are an essential part of a humanistic-revolutionary cultural
policy.
By enabling groups and individuals to express themselves freely and in
their o w n way, without interference and with a minimum of intervention,
the State is f u l u n g its principal role as the promoter of a cultural policy
designed to stimulatethe most authentic forms of popular expression which
will lead to collective self-affirmation.
In this way, by increasing appreciation and awareness of the creative
qualities of all Peruvians and by dignifying labour as the source of the
various activities related to popular culture, the aim of the cultural policy
will be not only to increase appreciation of a body of culture hitherto
fragmented and despised but also, for example, to ensure that both works
of art and handicraft objects are valued at their true worth. Both will be
seen to be the outcome of the effort, talent and vocation of those w h o
made them and, as products of labour, they will both receive the esteem
which pre-Revolutionary society denied them.
DEVELOPMENT OF A CRITICAL AWARENESS
The revolutionary principles underlying a cultural policy can only be given

effect by respecting and indeed promoting the critical awareness of the
individual, both as regards others and as regards himself and his revol-
utionary commitment. Thus he will be able to demand that his freedom
be respected, because that very freedom respects the humanistic and
participatory nature of the society which the Peruvian Revolution is
building.
Within the socio-economic context of the new Peruvian society, the
critical awareness of the new m a n should enable him to understand the
factors which determine the ideological content of the cultural products of
all times and all types, so that he m a y enjoy them and benefit from his
o w n choice of works produced throughout the ages, in whatever circum-
stances they were created.
Critical awareness, however, should not be understood as being the
prerogative of privileged groups w h o have exclusive rights over ‘culture’
and are consequently qualified to distribute it to those w h o presumably
lack it. On the contrary, it should imply an awareness on the part of the
vast majority that they are capable of grasping the structure and content
of all forms of cultural expression so as to analyse their deeper meaning and
assimilate them fully.
This means that those engaged in creative cultural work will often have
17
to change their attitudes and expectations with respect to those who will
be the natural beneficiaries of their creative efforts. If culture is a collective
experience, then all citizens are producers and consumers of culture.
Consequently, not only m a y no one claim exclusive rights over it, but its
development will often be more compatible with the promotion of non-
formal than formal education, as it links the experience of work with the
acquisition and enrichment of culture.
CULTURAL DEMOCRACY
THROUGH PARTICIPATION
The decolonisation of culture leads to a true cultural democracy. A revol-

utionary and humanistic cultural policy must aim at the socialization of
cultural activity.
By cultural democracy, therefore, is meant the removal of those
obstacles which prevent or limit the Peruvian’s participation, either as actor
or spectator, as creator or interpreter,in all types of creative,interpretative
and analytical activity, to which traditionally only small groups of the
population have had access; in other words, the elimination of those social
or administrative mechanisms and economic differences which prevent most
of the population from actually taking part in cultural activities and
enjoying them, and which also prevent recognition of the talents and free
preferences of individuals and groups.
In a social democracy based on full participation, self-management and
self-government, cultural expression will finally become the birthright of
all Peruvians. The elimination of dominant social groups, hierarchical and
dogmatic systems and behaviour patterns and totalitarian attitudes wdl
make it possible to establish a symbiosis between daily Ide and scientific
and artistic culture.
None of this will be possible unless the whole capitalist system is
transcended, once and for all, and unless we continue to reject State-
centred systems.
In formulating such a long-term objective, which is no more utopian
than similar ones in other spheres of social life,the humanistic-revolutionary
cultural policy is simply charting the course that it should follow during
the long transitional stage which the revolution has begun. Without such a
transition-whch in itself has a liberating effect-the goal is unattainable;
and without such a goal, the transition, as has so often happened, m a y
crystallize into new élitisms, the new and unjustified usurpation of cultural
power.
NATIONAL AFFIRMATION IN CULTURE
In a national movement such as that taking place in Peru, the cultural

policy is the conscious expression of indigenous values, which are given
special support, as well as those which have come from outside our borders
18
and form part of the universal human heritage and hence also part of our
own.
For sound historical reasons, Western culture, so-called,is the one that
has had the most influence on our cultural situation. It is this heritage,
parts of which we have assimilated, which-together with indigenous
cultural values and non-Western ones-will form the ultimate integrated
culture whose universality will be based on the profoundly national
character of its underlying principles.
Similarly, since priority will be given to the image of Peru as a bicultural
and officially bilingual country-for both Quechua and Spanish are
spoken-it will not be possible to overlook the pluricultural and pluri-
linguistic nature of the country, or the equal rights of each m e m b e r of the
various minority cultures.
Distribution of roles in cultural action
ROLE OF THE STATE
Three aspects of the function of the State in relation to cultural bodies and,
particularly, in relation to cultural workers m a y be noted:
Emancipating role of the State’s action

in cultural life
Until the h a 1 objective of cultural socialization is attained, the State

should play an emancipating role in its cultural action. In order to do this,
the traditional pre-revolutionary guidelines which have been used to cope
with the problem of culture in Peru must be entirely reformulated. In the
fìrst place, in putting the cultural policy into effect, we must do away with
the oppressive model of a centralized and paternalistic public administration
and pay attention to the leadership that should be provided by persons,
groups and institutions concerned with cultural activities, though this does
not imply a technocratic kind of culture or the emergence of variant forms,
which are undesirable because of their exclusive nature and the risk of
manipulation that is implicit in them. One of the first tasks will be that of
eliminating obstacles inherited from the past, so that the various forms of
cultural expression m a y develop and a creative pluralism m a y come into
being that can make culture a reality in which individuals and groups can
play their part. This task calls for a sustained effort; we shall have to
mobilize all our forces, including the State institutions directly concerned
with culture, the mass communication media, local governments, the
various public sectors, the basic community bodies, etc., so that they may
each play their new roles in the emancipating action which the practical
application of a revolutionary cultural policy requires.
19
Responsibility of public bodies

concerned with culture
Part of the State’s new role is to meet the urgent need to define the functions
and responsibilities of the public bodies which play a direct and major
part in the important work of cultural preservation, restoration, research,
promotion and dissemination. It is important that their tasks should be
planned and priorities assigned to them, co-ordination machinery set in
motion, resources reallocated and the responsible bodies reorganized before
the State body which will have the principal responsibility for carrying out
cultural action is permanently set up.
This is particularly important in the case of specific bodies and activities
which can only be properly organized and financed by the State, for
instance, the documentation centres needed to make the information pro-
duced throughout the country, as well as the information it has to obtain
from elsewhere, available to scholars; another instance is a large national
printing-press which would serve the regional publishing houses to be set
up in future,without any interference as regards the content of publications;
and yet another is the preparation of a cultural m a p of the country.
Lastly, it should be stressed that the State’s application of its cultural
policy cannot and must not be carried out by a single sector only. The task
is essentially multisectoral, though it calls for close but comprehensive and
flexible co-ordinationby a specialized body. Each sector, therefore, should
promote cultural activity so as to bring about an awareness of what such
activity implies, quite apart from any question of technocratic and econ-
omic pragmatism.
Planning of the State’s cultural action
The emancipating task of the State-the promotion of the cultural life of

the country-cannot be carried out without effective planning. Such plan-
ning should be free of all domineering, paternalistic or manipulating
tendencies.
In truly revolutionary planning, the basic principles underlying the
design and application of the plan should be constantly borne in mind;
this means that it should be participatory planning. This is essential in
cultural matters, where abundance and penury are commonly found side
by side, at the various local, district and regional levels.
The aim of planning for cultural action must therefore be to meet the
needs and requirements of the people and welcome their assistance. By
bringing together all the information obtained, from the local to the
regional levels, it will be possible to draw up an authentic national plan of
cultural action.
National planning for cultural action should give priority attention to
the social sectors that are still the least favoured and to the most remote
geographical areas. It should promote all forms of participation by the
20
people in the task of cultural creative work and dissemination, and should
stimulate the expression of the characteristics of each local culture, in
order to encourage equal treatment, an authentic cultural interchange and
a desire for integration in a m u c h broader cultural entity-the Peruvian
nation as a whole.
Revolutionary cultural planning should avoid all restrictions arising
from ‘budgetary ceilings’. Rather, considering them as minimum assump-
tions, and without paying too much attention to purely financial resources,
it should take m a x i m u m advantage of the enormous potential to be found
in the very spirit of the people and their desire €or collective cultural
achievement.
ROLE OF THE MASS COMMUNICATION MEDIA
T h e mass communication media, especially the socialized press, radio and

television, should be considered as being of prior importance. All these
media should be used ao as to complement each other in the task of cultural
promotion and dissemination. They should stimulate everyday creative
activity by the promotion of new values, the critical assessment of known
and accepted values, and knowledge and recognition ofthe cultural achieve-
ments of both past and present, as well as more direct contacts, on a large
scale, with the cultural achievements of the whole world. AU this makes it
even more important that those responsible for the use of the mass media
should see that they do not distort the cultural heritage-either universal
or Peruvian-and, as has happened in many cases, become vehicles of
alienation and ‘de-education’. A certain type of information which w e
receive from international press agencies and certain television series are
instances of this.
Side by side with the development of the mass communication media,
encouragement should be given to any means of fostering individual and
group access to the various forms of communicationwall newspapers and
serigraphic systems, puppet shows and the theatre, and genuine partici-
pation, with discussion, in the programming and management of more
complex media such as the press, the cinema, radio and television. The
ultimate aim is that these media, instead of being an opportunity for only
a few to express their views to all the others, as heretofore, should
become the means by which every member of the n e w society can
communicate with other people.
ROLE OF THE COMMUNITY
Fundamentally, revolutionary cultural development, though launched,

promoted and sponsored by the State, must be the result of action by the
entire community. There is a danger that culture will still be regarded as
being the sole responsibility of the State, through its specialized bodies.
This assumption has conditioned the attitude of m a n y people so that all
21
they do is to seek, more or less successfully, support for a specific project

or the approval of State authorities.
But in fact, since culture and its development are the active and perma-
nent product of the creative ability of a people, the enriching contribution
of the whole community, through its basic organizations, is absolutely
essential. Thus, the pluralistic character of the Peruvian revolutionary
process can be seen in the individual and collective forms of expression, in
what we might call a constant cultural interaction which, like the edu-
cational process itself, is making all Peruvians creators, preservers, propa-
gators and beneficiaries of culture at one and the same time.
Thus, for example, the tremendous and difficult task of preserving
archaeological treasures or historic monuments in general should be carried
out by those who, because they live nearby, can see them as part of the
common heritage which has been entrusted to their custody. A similar
attitude might be expected with regard to the care of nature, and par-
ticularly natural resources, which are often liable to be despoiled.
The aims of the all-round education, liberation and self-affirmationof
Peruvian m e n and women, as enunciated in the General L a w concerning
Education, will therefore take on their full meaning in relation to everyday
tasks. This is how an authentic national culture, one that is both integrated
and pluralistic, can come into being.
RECONSIDERATION OF THE ROLE

OF INTELLECTUALS
T h e participation of intellectuals is essential to the process of cultural

change, but the nature of that participation must be changed. Clearly, one
of our aims must be to do away with the élitism which isolates intellectuals
and prevents them from giving their work social and community. signifi-
cance. They are called upon to serve the people and to discover practical
ways of taking part, together with the less fortunate sectors, in the task
of transmitting their experiences and expressing their thoughts.
This applies particularly to professional people and scientists, who, in
addition to making an intellectual and practical effort to appreciate the
needs and concerns of the people, should try to see their scientific and
technical work at all levels in a new way, sharing their knowledge through
the mass communication media or through programmes of community
service. Scientists and professional people should be ready to assess their
knowledge in relation to the people’s experience, and should strive to
review the function of education and to ensure that each institution becomes
a centre for mutual education, decision-making and emancipation.
Such identification of the intellectual with the day-to-daycreative work
of the people will enable him to become an authentic cultural worker who,
without sacrificing anything of his own personality, will find his fullilment
in the great task of collective construction.
22
Constant components of cultural action
RESEARCH INTO THE CULTURAL SITUATION
Cultural action should be based on thorough research into the profound and
complex reality of the country, especially its scientific and artistic wealth,
which has been preserved despite internal cultural domination.
Research of this kind will make it possible to get beyond the undesirable
hierarchies that are due to an individualistic mentality, and will also bring
about a deeper understanding of our pluricultural and multilingual position,
of which so little is known and which has generally gone unappreciated.
INTERNAL EXCHANGE
If we are to build a democratic society, based on full participation, there

is an urgent need for cultural action to overcome the lack of communication
that still exists between the many human groups with different cultural
characteristics living side by side, disunited and antagonistic, within the
Peruvian community.
Permanent channels must be created for cultural interrelations between
these groups, in order to bring about a truly integrated national culture
which takes full account of our pluricultural position.
n e s e mechanisms of cultural interrelation should help people to know
each other and do away with the cultural control of some by others, which
is paternalistic and makes people lose their identity.
In this connection, exchanges between representatives of the cultural
creativity of the various human groups within our territory (coast,moun-
tain,forest land, city, countryside) are of prime importance.Cultural action
should therefore encourage national groups with differing cultural charac-
teristicsto meet each other;contacts between them will certainly be mutually
enriching.
STIMULATION OF CREATIVE ACTIVITY
The kind of policy needed is one that will stimulate creativity, and this
means working out programmes which help cultural workers to develop
their skills, it being understood that liberty is essential to every creative
act. Workshops must therefore be available where artists and scientists
can apply and develop their creative abilities. Similarly, artistic and scien-
tific competitions should be promoted in order to foster and develop
creativity, but so far as possible without encouraging the competitive spirit
which often has a bad effect on the creative artist.
Other ways of encouraging creativity include the following: the estab-
lishment of mobile science museums, in which provision is made for active
participation, and from which the people can learn about scientific tech-
niques and discoveries; the setting up of centres, open to the public, where
23
creative cultural activities are carried on permanently and creative artists

have an opportunity to communicate with other people; the development
of dynamic programmes, using the mass communication media, in which
the general public are no longer merely spectators,but have every oppor-
tunity to take part.
Special attention should be devoted to a general reappraisal of the
social and individual approach to children-who have in the past been
overlooked-by setting up institutions and promoting attitudes which will
favour the development of artistic, scientific and technological skius, on
the basis of carefully planned and effective arrangements for the protection
of children. It is also essential to arouse awareness of the importance of
ecology and the protection of nature.
PROJECTION OF THE CULTURAL IMAGE
Stress must be laid on the fundamental importance of projecting the

cultural image of Peru in all its richness, and specifically as a country
moving towards a humanistic and cohesive society. This image must be
projected within the country itself, as well as outwards, towards other
countries, particularly the Latin American community and the Third
World.
In projecting the cultural image within the country itself, the goal
should be mutual understanding and communication between even the
most distant and most widely differing sectors of the country. Regional
characteristics form the starting-point and basis of the unity that must be
achieved, so long as they are consistent with the plan to ensure integration
and participation. W e must break up the centralist pattern of a capital
city acting like a mother country towards the provinces, as if they were
colonies, and also the pattern of a capital which is itself a colony of
European and North American mother countries, with their monopoly over
what passes for universal culture.
Consolidation of the country’s own cultural image also implies its
projection abroad. This in turn calls for effective co-ordinationbetween the
State bodies specifically responsible for cultural activities and our foreign
representatives.
Such co-ordinationmust also extend to international cultural bodies,
so that their services and facilities m a y be rationally and profitably used.
Within this context, ‘cultural tourism’, as it is called, must be recon-
sidered, and its legitimate bases as a human, co-operative and fruitful
experience must be reasserted.
There is no question of curtailing the hancial benefits rightfully
accruing to a country like Peru, with its tremendous historic, artistic and
natural riches, which it should make accessible to its o w n inhabitants and
to the rest of the world. Rather, the tourist industry must be reorganized
in such a w a y that profit-making is not its predominant purpose. Archae-
24
ological, historical and aesthetic values should not be sacrificed to facile

and immediate financial gain, as still happens. There are recent examples
of how the dignity and integrity of peoples and their highest cultural and
ethical values m a y be sacrificed for the sake of the ‘industry without
chimneys’.
A revolutionary cultural policy should also give priority to exchanges
between human groups-and not only between folk-dancersor performing
troupes in general-both within the country and abroad, in order to pro-
mote that mutual understanding which leads to brotherhood and peace.
The cultural image of the country should also be effectively projected,
both within Peru and abroad, by the audio-visualmedia, to which special
attention should be given, to ensure that they fulfil their important func-
tion-that of influencing opinion.
Lastly, museums and libraries must be decentralized, and arrangements
must be made for cultural objects to be exchanged between Peru and the
rest of the world.
It is the duty of the Peruvian revolution to reinstate a humanistic
outlook, open to dialogue between cultures. It must be shown that Peru is
prepared to assume its responsibilities as a country rich in cultural values,
which it appreciates fully and correctly, and which it makes available
without any imperialistic or covetous intentions.
Final consideration
The cultural policy whose bases are set out in this document is directed
towards the socialization of cultural activities and the emergence of the
new Peruvians in the context of a socialist, democratic and participating
society. Such people will have conquered and overcome any alienating
inclination towards unjust domination or dependence that might obstruct,
frustrate or distort their self-fulament.The Peru of today and tomorrow
needs such genuinely emancipated people, who will be the protagonists of a
revolutionary cultural democracy.
25
The National Institute of Culture
Background
In the earliest days of the republic, the action of the State in the field of
culture was channelled through various bodies, especially the Ministry of
Education and its predecessors. Cultural promotion, however, received
constant support from local authorities, which have traditionally played
a prominent role in leading community action. In the 1940s,the Directorate
of Cultural and Artistic Extension of the Ministry of Education took official
steps to focus systematic attention on the problems of culture. In 1962,the
Peruvian House of Culture was established, on the basis of the directorate.
The National Institute of Culture is one of the products of the Revol-
utionary government, which came to power at the end of 1968.In the wave
of changes which then began, it was impossible to overlook the pressing
need for the House of Culture,which at that time had limited responsibilities,
resources and in%uence, to be transformed into a new body with sufficient
administrative autonomy and the economic capacity to be fully effective
in carrying out the tasks of restoring culture to its proper position and
promoting, disseminating and democratizing it. So it was that, by Organic
Law No. 18799, of the Education Sector, the National Institute of Culture
was set up as a public, decentralized body under that sector. Subsequently,
L a w No. 19268, of 11 January 1972, established the organic structure and
defined the aims and objectives of the institute,and from that time onward
it took over the responsibilities, resources and property of the Peruvian
House of Culture and of the cultural centres in all the provinces.
Organic structure
The director-general is the highest authority in the National Institute of
Culture, and is responsible for the budget. His second-in-commandis the
managing director, who replaces him in his absence.
26
The General Directorate includes advisory bodies, the chief of these

being the General Council for Culture, which helps it to work out the
cultural policy of the State and puts forward recommendationsand opinions
concerning the implementation of that policy. The council’s chairman is
the director-general, and it consists of representatives of the Ministry of
Education, the Peruvian universities, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the
National Social Welfare System and three persons of note in the field of
culture; the latter are appointed on the proposal of the General Directorate
for a one-year t e r m of office.
The technical councils, which give advice in specificbranches of culture,
consist of qualified professionals. There are at present seven technical
councils, one for each of the spheres of literature, art, mass communication,
humanities, natural sciences and mathematics, applied sciences and tech-
nology, and archives.
T h e work of the institute covers four areas, for which there are four
technical directorates-cultwal promotion, cultural activities, conser-
vation of national monuments and the cultural heritage, and artistic
training-around which are grouped the executive bodies, i.e. those directly
responsible for accomplishing the institute’s specific ends.
The institute also has advisory, auxiliary and supervisory bodies. The
first are the Legal Advice Office and the Officeof Planning and Program-
ming. T h e auxiliary bodies are the Office of Administration and the Office
of Public Relations. The internal supervision of the institute is carried out
by the Office of the Inspectorate, which forms part of the Inspectorate
System of the Education Sector.
The subsidiaries of the institute, situated outside the capital, are
organized into regional branch bodies which, in their respective areas,
pursue the aims of the institute as far as their means permit. They have
their headquaxters in the capital of one of the provinces in their area, and
their directors are advised by regional councils for culture whose m e m b e r -
ship and responsibilities are similar to those of the General Council for
Culture.
There are, at present, ten branch offices (in Arequipa, Ayacucho,
Cajamarca, Cuzco, Chiclayo, Huancayo, Huánuco, Iquitos, Trujillo and
Tacna) and four provincial offices (in Huaraz, Ica, Piura and Puno).
Despite the limitations imposed by the lack of infrastructure, qualified
personnel and adequate financial resources, as well as by administrative
centralization and concentration,the branch offices, which collaborate with
public and private institutions and with the community, are doing consist-
ently useful work.
The government policies of regional development and decentralization
will gradually make it possible to provide the branch offices with the funds
and the decision-making authority that they need for the full accomplish-
ment of the institute’s aims throughout the country.
27
Aims, objectives and responsibilities

of the institute
According to Article 5 of the statutes of the institute, its aims are as

follows:
To promote, in accordance with State policy, the development and inte-
gration of Peruvian culture, respecting its distinctive regional features
and fostering all that contributes to the affirmation of the country’s
characteristic values.
To encourage the development of the Peruvian’s creative and critical
ability, as the prime ingredient of his self-fulíiImentwithin the national
community.
To protect, preserve and present Peru’s cultural heritage, including monu-
ments, to make the cultural heritage more widely known, and to make
all types of universal culture available to Peruvians.
Article 6 defines as its objectives:
To promote the development of culture in Peruvian society.
To disseminate the various kinds of cultural work.
To protect, preserve, present and augment the national heritage of monu-
ments and culture, and to disseminate knowledge of it.
To provide artistic education.
T o carry out extension of education.
To give advice, at their request, to other State bodies.
The responsibilities of the institute are set out in Article 7:
To plan, propose and implement the cultural policy of the State.
To encourage the expression of the national culture by arranging contests,
competitions and other incentives.
To promote the co-operationof individuals and State or private institutions
for the promotion and development of culture.
To assess the standard of public entertainment, with the exception of
sporting events and events within the field of competence of the
National Board for the Regulation of Foreign Entertainment, and to
advise that board.
To supervise public entertainment, with the exception of sporting events,
and collaborate with the corresponding offices of the National Public
Sector in establishing norms and imposing sanctions.
To conduct, co-ordinate and encourage research on national monuments
and the cultural heritage.
To provide artistic education, in accordance with the General L a w on
Education.
To bring about the spread of education, in accordance with the General
L a w on Education and in collaboration with the General Directorate of
Educational Extension.
To publish and disseminate works of cultural importance.
To protect the intellectual property of authors and performers.
28
To promote and organize international cultural exchanges.

T o maintain relations with similar bodies in other countries.
To represent the country officially in the sphere of culture.
T o assess the standard of private cultural bodies in the country, and grant
them o5cial recognition accordingly.
To impose fines in accordance with the legal norms and relevant regdations.
To lay down technical norms within its sphere of competence.
Cultural promotion
If we agree that culture m a y be defined as ‘all the active and dynamic

values, both material and abstract, which motivate, govern and regulate
from within, the day-to-day relations between individuals and social
groups within the community’, then cultural promotion activities should
aim to stimulate the cultural values of the people, providing encouragement
and incentives, primarily, for a horizontally structured work plan, so that
the depositaries of the cultural heritage m a y themselves be its managers
and its beneficiaries, its producers and its consumers. B y this means, the
creative and critical ability of the community is stimulated, while at the
same time its eyes are opened to its own identity.
This is particularly important in a country such as Peru, which is
culturally complex, multilingual, with a sizeable rural social substratum,
and heir to age-old traditions. Its position as a dependent country empha-
sized the contradictions in the development of Peruvian culture. O n the
one hand, the intermingling of the values of Western civilization with those
of the substratum of native culture gradually gave rise to a hybrid culture.
On the other hand, the indigenous values still show lively resistance, so
that the traditional world-view of a vast sector of the population has
survived. As a consequence,a robust oral tradition continues to exist-since
the colonization of the country made outcasts of vast sectors of Quechuan-
speakers,who had no school education-and so do ritual behaviour patterns
and artistic achievements which are evidence of the vigour of a traditional
popular culture.
One fundamental task of cultural promotion is, therefore, the reinstate-
ment of the artistic values which make our national identity what it is,
as these are revealed in music, dancing, the plastic arts, and traditional
literature and drama. Since these values constitute an important aspect of
our national identity, cultural promotion should give them new life, encour-
aging an attitude among the people which will prevent such values from
sufferingimpairment or loss. In recent years, the State has drawn up plans
for their promotion, which it has implemented through various channels,
such as the National Social Welfare System, the Wnistry of Industry and
Tourism and the Peruvian Craft Promotion Company. Meetings of craft-
workers, of amateur and professional artists and joint exhibitions have
29
brought creators and performers in various areas of artistic work into the
limelight. However, this is still insufficient. It is not enough to organize
competitions, fairs or exhibitions if these are not backed by steady work
along the lines mapped out by the cultural policy; and this work is the task
of the National Institute of Culture.
For this reason, efforts must be made to arouse people’s awareness,
throughout the country, so that we can take a critical look at our o w n
culture and also assimilate other values that are indispensable to our devel-
opment. So, in the first place, cultural action should aim to achieve cultural
decolonization. A n y developing country can put forward its o w n values, pro-
vided that the structures of domination are overthrown and the conditions
are fuliilled which will enable creation to flourish freely.
Little can be done in our case if the work of promotion continues to be
left to a small group of research workers or if the action of a few trained
promoters is coniined to the provinces adjoining the capital. Cultural
promotion should be carried out on a nation-widebasis, drawing the whole
community into participation and co-operationin the cultural development
of the country.
Since its inception in July 1972,the institute’s Technical Directorate of
Cultural Promotion has adopted two lines of approach: research, and
promotion proper. W h e n plans and projects for promotion had been drawn
up, the three executive bodies in the area, namely, the Offices of Literature,
Film and Drama, of Music and Dance, and of the Plastic Arts, embarked
upon the task of documentation. First of all, therefore, a programme of
research was prepared, and this now enables us to perceive more specific
guidelines and approaches.
The Office of Literature, Film and Drama is now at work gathering and
investigating folk-talesin the oral tradition; such tales are very frequently
heard in our country and are therefore a major form of expression. They
have a variety of implications, for, as well as providing a mental structure
they tell us much about the knowledge, the rules of conduct and, indeed,
the world-view of the Andean, whose feelings and aspirations they express.
Within the context which we have briefly outlined, the Office of Litera-
ture, Film and Drama has set itself the task of creating comprehensive
archives of folk-tales,wbch will be edited and classified according to their
area of distribution, subject and theme and, as far as possible, according
to their structure. The objective in the second stage is to collect folk-tales
in the field. T h e office also plans to set up a bibliographical card-index of
studies on this type of tale and, in the sphere of drama, to investigate the
area of distribution and the various versions of the play The Tragedy of
Atahualpa, which, since it is to be found over a wide area, and especially
since it projects an indigenous view of the Conquest, is worthy of special
study.
Meanwhile, the Office of Music and Dance decided to make a scientific
collection of information on all the musical instruments in the country. This
30
research occupied a t e a m in compiling data for three years; the outcome is

a document entitled ‘Peruvian Folk Instruments: Classification and Geo-
graphical Location’, which was to be published by the institute’s publishing
house in the course of 1977.The interesting point in this case was that the
musicologists themselves were surprised to h d more than 700 specimens,
counting all the variants in use; they had expected some 150 instruments.
The ofice is continuing to collect information on folk festivals and dances-a
project which was concluded at the end of 1976-and it w ill go on compiling
data on Peruvian composers, for the purpose of producing a biographical
dictionary. Other tasks will be the transcription and analysis of Peruvian
forms of musical expression.
The Office of the Plastic Arts is working on a bibliographical compilation
of data concerning popular plastic arts. So far, it has set up a card-index
of the examples of popular plastic arts to be found in such important
establishments as the National Museum of Peruvian culture, the Museum
of Art and History of the National University of San Marcos and the
Ethnographic Forestry Museum. It has also completed an inventory of
examples of popular plastic arts-drawn up on the basis of information
obtained at craft fairs and markets in Lima-according to their geo-
graphical situation and to the type of plastic art.
Finally, it should be mentioned that the office has begun work on the
preparation of its first, experimental cultural map, based on a system of
symbols of the various forms of expression in the popular plastic arts, and
has produced a draft study of mate burilado (engraved drinking vessels)
as a form of artistic and social expression.
The ultimate aim of the research carried out by the various executive
bodies in the area is to prepare a cultural m a p of Peru, showing the location
of the centres of artistic and literary production, with the objects produced
in each.
There is still much to be done with regard to community-directed
cultural promotion work. In the first place, the active participation of the
people must be secured. Since promotion is intended to stimulate such
participation, we must, after carrying out studies which w ill enable us to
see the various fields of action more clearly, encourage cultural encounters
in which the experiences of each can be useful to all, bearing in mind the
different levels of such participation: amateurs and professionals, creative
artists and performers. (Thisconcerns the cultural forms which time and
custom have consecrated among the various sectors of the people.)
Apart from such encounters, the creative imagination and the t e a m
spirit must both be systematically encouraged, so that nuclei of action
m a y be established throughout the country. This does not mean that
action should be governed by a paternalist attitude. On the contrary,
cultural promotion consists, essentially, in working for the creation of
channels through which the people’s potential for expression m a y develop
and spread. T h e object is not to popularize certain artistic techniques, but
31
to inspire the men and w o m e n in whose hands our culture lies, so that they
realize that they are expressing and experiencing that culture every day.
As part of the State’s cultural promotion policy, mention should be
made of the national cultural awards and fellowships,which are granted to
the winners of contests. The Technical Directorate of Cultural Promotion
organizes the various contests, which are judged by the General Council
for Culture; the latter delivers its verdict, following the reports of technical
commissions appointed ad hoc by the council for each of the areas.
There are six awards, and they are open to creative artists and research
workers whose work can be said to have made a notable contribution to
Peruvian culture. They are granted biennially, in literature, art, mass
communication, humanities,natural sciences and mathematics, and applied
sciences and technology. Each award is worth 200,000 soles, subject to
periodic revision.
The fellowships are awarded, in the same areas, to Peruvians aged
between 18 and 30, w h o are resident in Peru, and w h o give proof of their
ability and intention to carry out a piece of creative work, research or
criticism in the above-mentioned fields, on condition that they donate it
to the State. Twelve fellowships are awarded every two years, and each is
worth 150,000 soles, payable in ten monthly instalments.
Cultural activities
OBJECTIVE: THE PEOPLE AT LARGE
In cultural activities-for which there are six artistic groups, a publishing

house and a body organized on business lines-an attempt is being made
to infuse new life into traditional movements and to give fresh significance
to the dissemination of national and universal cultural values.
The fundamental objectives are to disseminate literary, musical, dra-
matic and choreographical works by the major writers and artists and to
rescue from oblivion works of folklore, music and craft belonging to our
own cultural heritage.
The institute’s work is dominated by its concern that the action of its
artistic groups and its publishing house should reach the public at large,
and that more people should come to appreciate the works produced.
Furthermore, it aims to accustom the people to regular attendance at
culturalperformances, to help to educate tastes and, above all, to guarantee
a high standard of work. For this last purpose, the Technical Directorate of
Cultural Activities has a training establishment for specialistsin the various
fields for which it is responsible.
32
CENTRALIZATION VERSUS NATIONAL N E E D S
Because of the socio-economic structure of the country, cultural dissemi-

nation at the national level has been limited in scope. Since approximately
the third decade of the twentieth century, cultural activity has stopped on
the outskirts of the capital, in which, owing to an antiquated belief in the
virtues of centralization, the theatres, suitable premises for artistic per-
formances, the best technical conditions and the sales circuit for books and
magazines-in short, ‘cultural life’ in general-have been concentrated.
Access to such things, moreover, was the privilege of a small urban
sector of the community.Most of the people absorbed the products of ‘mass
entertainment’ passively, especially through the mass media. Artists, on
the other hand, bound by the rules of the g a m e of such a culture, were often
in danger of failing completely if they did not make concessions to popular
taste. Today, such commercial entertainment, which is intended to satisfy
the demand of an uncritical sector of the public, is still very much with us.
Our task, therefore, is to shake this attitude to its foundations, to
compete in a difficult market by attempting to win acceptance for work of
good quality, and to see that cultural action is not confined to the capital.
It must, however, be acknowledged that nation-wide cultural dissemi-
nation calls for a physical and technical infrastructure, and this will be
built up step by step. It is not that the performers demand optimum
conditions. Apart from fundamental technical difficulties, the institute’s
groups adapt themselves to the conditions which they find on their travels
among the towns and villages, and they strive to maintain high standards
in their performances, so as not to prejudice the success of their central
task: to convey to the people at large the abiding importance and vigour
of cultural values.
Nevertheless, cultural extension work at the national level was still far
from perfect, and the institute therefore signed a contract, in 1975, with
the Telecentro Company, the chief producer of television programmes, to
record 240 programmes, each lasting twenty-five minutes, which were then
to be broadcast by local channels.T h e screening of these programmes began
in June of the same year, at the rate of six a week.
As a follow-up to this television experiment, which lasted more than
a year, another contract was signed between the institute and Telecentro,
in September 1976;this time, the institute undertook to make thirty-two
programmes lasting Mty minutes each, which would be shown at peak
viewing times at the rate of two programmes a week, on the same channels
as before, on their networks throughout the republic and, possibly, on other
television channels, both in Peru and abroad. The agreement included the
production of a total of eighty mini-programmes,lasting one minute each,
of a cultural, informative and educational character.
It is obvious that television could become an effective, unifying vehicle
of culture. The immediacy of the televised image, its nation-widescope and
33
its ability to bring the family together may, in the near future, lead the
people at large to an aesthetic appreciation of cultural achievements.
It should be made quite clear that we have no intention of playing off
the products of LWestern’culture against those of traditional cultures, or
of drawing up a canon which excludes other cultures. On the contrary, w e
believe that people are capable of appreciating universal cultural values,
applying their critical faculty to them and assimilating their content. The
important point is that they should realize that these values, too, belong
to them and form part of their heritage. If things are changing in Peru,
then the course of cultural dissemination must also change. A large-scale
plan of cultural democratization must be carried out, one which challenges
the tawdry idols of mass culture and enables our people to assimilate both
the authentic values of our culture and those which belong to the heritage
of mankind as a whole.
AUXILIARY ACTIVITIES
The Technical Directorate of Cultural Activities welcomes (and assesses)

the proposals for action made by artists and groups who request support
for their work from the National Institute of Culture. Such support, which
automatically carries exemption from the public entertainment tax, is
granted if the artistic quality of the work presented and the values shown
in it are likely to contributeto the development of our national culture. The
same treatment is given to national and foreign artists, theatrical troupes
and other groups.
T h e best national or foreign artistic performances to be shown on our
stages must be broadcast (on radio or television), as a condition of our
support. When, for technical reasons, it is not possible to record a pro-
gramme, the organizers are required to show a film specially prepared for
local television. This was the procedure adopted, for example, with the
Spanish Antonio Gades ballet troupe, the Nikolais Dance Theatre and the
Murray Louis Dance Company. Even so, in most cases, as well as a recorded
performance, a live performance is scheduled at popular prices in large
capacity theatres, such as the Auditorio del Campo de Marte or the Coliseo
Amauta; by this means, performances which only the upper social groups
were able to see in the past can n o w be enjoyed by the whole population.
THE EXECUTIVE BODIES
National Symphony Orchestra

The achievement of the National Symphony Orchestra, which began work
in 1938, is manifest in the performances it has given in its many years of
existence (most of these for the first time before a Peruvian audience), in
the numbers of permanent and visiting conductors and national and foreign
34
soloists w h o have performed with it, and, especially, in the numbers of

national composers whose work it has made k n o w n to the public. But, going
beyond statistics, what makes it historically outstanding is the cultural
impetus, not expressible in figures, which it has given to the artistic devel-
opment of the country.
Its first conductor, the Austrian musician The0 Buchwald, led the
orchestra for more than twenty years. Since its inception, the orchestra
has achieved a steady output, playing from its traditional platforms (the
Municipal Theatre in winter and the Campo de Marte in summer), but also
playing for sectors which used to be the less privileged members of society,
as well as for universities and schools.
In the 144 concerts which it gave during the two-yearperiod, 1975-76,
it performed symphonies from its vast repertoire, which consists of about
a thousand works, written by 250 composers, including Peruvians.
National Choir
The National Choir gave its first concert in November 1965 and since then
its musical output has been prolific and sustained. It is considered to be
one of the most important choral groups in South America.
In the last two years it has recorded eight programmes for television
and has given thirty-fourdifferent concerts.
It comprises more than Hty choristers, and has given the h s t per-
formance in Peru, in conjunction with the orchestra, of works by Bach,
Schutz, Vivaldi, Mozart, Beethoven, Gluck, Prokofiev, Rossini, Ravel, etc.
Its a capellu repertoire includes more than a hundred works, ranging from
Renaissance to modern music.
T h e Peruvian works which it performs fall into two main categories:
original works by Peruvian composers and arrangements of folk songs.
National People’s Theatre
The National People’s Theatre began its career in 1973, when it staged
Fulgor y Muerte de Joaquin Murieta, by Pablo Neruda. The following year,
it gave the première of a version of Fuenteovejuna, by Lope de Vega. It
also stages two works written collectively; Historias de la Tierra, dealing
with topics relating to agrarian reform, and Biombo, a play for children.
In 1975, it produced Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, and, early
in 1976, on completion of an exhaustive study designed to reinstate national
values, it gave the first performance of L a Tragedia del Fin de Atau Wallpa,
a play by an anonymous sixteenth-century playwright, at the pre-Hispanic
site of Puruchuco, near Lima. At the same time, it put on a children’s play,
Se Están Marchitando las Flores de mi Sombrero,in the L a Cabaña Theatre.
In June 1976, it gave the first production of The Beggar’s Opera, by
John Gay.
35
In 1975, the National People’s Theatre televised six short plays by the
Peruvian dramatist Sebastián Salazar Bondy, a n e w adaptation of L a
Cenicienta and a mediaeval Spanish play on the theme of the Nativity. Its
output for 1976 included two programmes, L a Tragedia del Fin de Atau
Wallpa and L a de Cuatro Mil,by the Peruvian playwright Leonidas Yerovi.
Between July and August 1973,the theatre participated in the Seventh
Latin American D r a m a Festival,held in Manizales (Colombia). In July 1974,
it attended the Second Latin American Drama Festival, held in Caracas.
The activity of the National People’s Theatre is not confined to per-
formances in the L a Cabaña, Municipal or Segura Theatres. It also helps to
popularize theatrical activities by performing in schools, n e w housing areas
and unconventional settings. In the last two years it has given more than
two hundred performances, and has appeared on television programmes on
fifteen occasions.
National Dance Group
The National Dance Group consists of thirty-eight dancers, and performs

works from the classical ballet repertoire. These include ballets with music
by Tchaikovsky, A d a m , Chopin, Bizet, Saint-Saens,Aubert, Shostakovich,
Britten, Prokofiev, etc. Its productions of Giselle and Romeo and Juliet
were particularly successful.
The group also appears jointly with the National Symphony Orchestra,
the National Choir and the Modern Chamber Ballet. Its performances are
usually given at low prices, and in some cases free of charge, with the result
that the beauty of classical ballet is n o w within the public’s reach. Most of
its performances are held in theatres and secondary schools, where it also
performs for teaching purposes.
In the last two years it has given forty-eight performances and has
recorded twenty-one television programmes.
Modern Chamber Ballet
This was created early in 1974, as part of the National Dance Group,
together with the Classical Ballet Troupe, and became a separate executive
body in July 1976.
In its two years of existence, the Modern Chamber Ballet has gained
professional experience, and has developed an extensive repertoire which is
performed in a wide variety of settings,from the Municipal Theatre of Lima
to halls belonging to agricultural and industrial complexes, educational
establishments and all sorts of institutions, and even mining areas.
Its repertoire, which comprises more than fifty ballets, includes work
by composers such as Vivaldi and Piazzolla, Brubeck and Atahualpa
Yupanqui, of various periods and styles. In the last two years it has
recorded seventeen programmes for Peruvian television and has given
seventy-four performances, most of them in unconventional settings.
36
The National hstitute of Culture
T h e group is prepared to travel and to perform in any place whatsoever,

as long as the conditions reach a minimum standard, so that the performers
can do their work.
Its ballets are noteworthy for their liberationist spirit. They are of three
kinds: lyrical ballets based on ‘classical’ music (Vivaldi, for example),
ballets conveying a social protest which express the people’s longing
for freedom, and folklore ballets, which are inspired by Peruvian and
Latin American folk tunes.
The National Folklore Association

This association was founded in 1973, for the purpose of collecting, pre-
serving, investigating and disseminating examples of national folklore as
it is expressed in dancing, music, songs and musical instruments. Its aim
is to bring out the importance of the principal elements in the people’s
traditional culture, maintaining high standards and the advanced degree
of technical ability which the wealth of Peruvian folklore necessitates.
T h e National Folklore Association is one of the best-known groups. Its
rich repertoire, consisting of folk dances from the three main areas of the
country (the coast, the mountains and the forest) is m u c h appreciated.
Furthermore, its interest in studying, investigating and reconstructing
dances of the past is welcomed by the people, because it fulfils their aspir-
ations to rediscover their traditions and culture.
In addition to its regular performances in the capital, in the Cabaña,
Municipal and Segura Theatres, and in amphitheatres, halls, etc., the
National Folklore Association also performs in secondary schools, univer-
sities, n e w housing areas, hospitals, trade union halls and army camps, at
low prices or free of charge. It has also performed abroad, and has met with
particular success in the United States, Canada, Central America and
Europe. It often goes on tour within the country.
Its record of work during the present biennium includes 150 perform-
ances and 15 programmes recorded for television.
Publishing House
Although a publishing tradition undoubtedly exists in the country, there

are some areas which are not covered by private publishers, for example,
authors and works which inform us about our cultural development,
without rising to the ranks of the best sellers. T h e Publishing House of the
National Institute of Culture should therefore stimulate critical awareness
by collecting and recording the varied contributions of our writers.
T h e work of the Publishing House has included the following: (a) the
publication of works in its own particular area, i.e. editions of works by
Peruvian authors; (b) the publication of periodicals prepared by various
executive bodies of the institute: the National General Archives, the
37
National Anthropology and Archaeology Museum, the National Museum

of Peruvian Culture, the National History Museum and the National
Library; (c) the production of posters, pamphlets, programmes, wall
charts, etc., concerning the activities carried out by the institute’s various
bodies.
The books produced by the Publishing House form a sizeable collec-
tion of forty-sixtitles,which cover major achievements in scientific research
and creative art. Three of these are editions of Peruvian musical scores.
The books are produced in accordance with the highest philological stan-
dards, and are suitably illustrated; their standard of printing and layout
can be compared with the finest work achieved in the field of publishing.
By October 1976, the total number of copies published had passed the
100,000 mark. The journal of the institute, Textual, appears regularly; it
contains valuable material, and is very well produced.
The Publishing House has set up a distribution and sales service, which
operates through its o w n bookshop and news-stands in public places.
The Entertainment Ofice

This is the body responsible for giving technical assistance to the activities
carried out by the other executive bodies in the area, and also for organizing
symposia, lectures, round tables, recitals and exhibitions, in which both
Peruvian and foreign artists and intellectuals take part.
The Entertainment Office has already acquired considerable experience
in the promotion of cultural entertainment having successfully presented
national and foreign solo performers and groups of artists.
T h e National Institute of Culture, as an organization competing with
private companies, has made it its object to ensure that artistic perform-
ances of a high quality are given over a wide area and at reasonable prices.
The work of the Entertainment Office is outstanding because it is willing
to operate in unusual contexts. For example, various events have been
planned in local parks, industrial premises and agricultural co-operative
societies, in an attempt to attract audiences which lie off the beaten track
of entertainment.
In 1973 and 1974, it was particularly successful in organizing the new
Latin American Song Programme, in which well-known artists took part
such as Daniel Viglietti,Victor Jara, Joan Manuel Serrat, Alfredo Zitarrosa,
Victor Heredia, Soledad Bravo, Omara Portuondo and the Peruvians Tania
Libertad, Diego Mariscal and Raúl Vásquez.
The Peruvian Poetry Programme has been in progress for m a n y months;
week by week, it brings representatives of the present generation of poets
before the public.
Finally, mention should be made of the work of the Museum of Italian
Art, the name given to the institute’s gallery of the plastic arts, in which
exhibitions of works by Peruvian and foreign artists are always to be seen.
38
Conservation of national monuments

and the cultural heritage
The will to find a national identity came into being with the birth of the
republic. To discover this identity, an attempt was made to strengthen
patriotic feeling and to arouse respect for indigenous values, and laws were
passed aiming to preserve the relics of the pre-Hispanic period as symbols
which could help to strengthen the emerging independent State.
However, the earliest attempts to protect the monuments of Peru date
back to the sixteenth century. The desire to do so is still very much alive,
since knowledge of our past continues to require not only the conservation
of its origins in the form of monuments and documents,but also the general
protection and study of these, in accordance with the attitude of respect
which is due to the cultural creations of the Andean society. This attitude
is already to be found in the Indian laws, based on the concept of ownership
(jus Quiritium) of deposits, valuables and buried treasure, which were
drawn up by the Spanish monarchy in its eagerness to lay its hands on the
royal dues. In about 1541, Charles V advised that care be taken of these
things ‘becausethey belong to us’, and the decrees of Toledo, published in
L a Plata (today Sucre, in Bolivia), in 1574, set out the conditions to be
complied with by anyone ‘seeking or bding treasures in Indian burial
grounds, tombs, or temples’. Although the purpose of these decrees was
different from our aims, their effect was to set a limit to the right to private
property.
However, during the Spanish domination, despite the irreparable struc-
tural damage which the Andean culture suffered as a result of the unequal
confrontation of two worlds and the insatiable thirst for gold that was the
driving force of the Conquest resulting in temples and palaces being sacked
and plundered and Indian burial grounds ransacked-a process which went
on for three centuries- the scale of the material destruction,comparatively
speaking, was less than the despoiling of archaeological monuments in the
days of the republic.At least the looters left a record of what they destroyed,
in documents which can still be studied today. The treasure seekers,brick-
dealers and urban developers, however, not to mention the archaeological
dilettantes,razed to the ground everything of archaeological interest which
they came upon, and they continue to do so.
All this occurs despite the interest in the historic heritage, concerning
which a number of decisions were taken by the government of the republic
from 1822 onwards. Measures were adopted expressing the ideological views
of those w h o set out to give us a united national identity, but they were
really innocuous measures-good intentions,incompatiblewith the physical
structure and administrative capacity of the country.
What we have described so far was merely an attempt to bring about
national awareness,i.e. the enactment of laws in the hope of developing the
necessary spirit of citizenship, which should be the supreme defence of our
39
cultural heritage, the complement or crown of our knowledge of our past.

It was therefore indispensable, besides seeking to make the citizen respect
cultural relics, to adopt measures which were both intellectually coherent
and practically effective.
However, although it is undoubtedly essential to be able to rely on legal
machinery for the protection of the culturalheritage, the means should not
be mistaken for the end: protecting archaeological sites, restoring and
rebuilding historical monuments are only part of the problem. To unearth
works of art from the obscurity of the past, and to give tangible form to the
image of the nation’s being, are not goals which can be achieved by impro-
visation; they demand effort. Such an effort, besides being steady and
systematic,requiresthe strict application of scientific methods, i.e. research
work. Furthermore, research is not only the privilege of large institutions
or academic centres; it is essential to any institution with an educational
vocation.
Recovery of the past is the first step towards achieving the ideals of
arousing, developing and strengthening an authentic, valid national aware-
ness. Research into and knowledge of the past are a service rendered to all
mankind, n o w and for the future.
It is important to define what is meant by research in relation to the
preservation of the cultural heritage. In the first place, it means research
towards the recovery of tangible and intangible evidence and, secondly,
research towards the conservation of such evidence for all time. Such
research should and must be conducted in the field and in the laboratory
by persons w h o have been trained either in anthropology or in such
disciplines as physics, chemistry, botany, engineering, geology, electronics,
zoology, and even in cinema, radio and television,which serve as auxiliaries
to anthropology.
F r o m the anthropological angle, research involves both archaeological
and ethnographical materials, since these are complementary, in that both
make known the continuum of the cultural process.
In present-day Peru, archaeologicalresearch has three different aspects.
1. Pure research, that is, the acquisition of knowledge of ancient societies,
tracing their history not only through their achievements but also
through their failures (demographicor climatic crises,or over-production
of food, which, by altering the Andean ecosystem, meant the loss of
control over it).
2. Research intended to enhance the value of monuments, i.e. an attempt
to restore their original appearance and to make them accessible to the
general public as their rightful inheritance; or the conservation of
archaeological evidence in a research documentation centre, where a
detailed record is kept in the archives of everything connected with sites
which have to be destroyed,owing to the inevitable processes of expansion
of human settlements-irrigation, building highways or urbanization.
These archaeological salvage operations are necessary in our case.
40
Garagay. Mythical figure.
Part of a polychrome clay
frieze in high,relief from
the valley of the Rímac,
central coast, 3800 B.C.
Nasca. Modelled
polychrome ceramic,
Nasca-9 style. Southem
coast, sixth century A.D.
Collection of the National
M u s e u m of Anthropology
and Archaeology.
Chimu. Ceramic sculpture
of a parrot pecking at a
corn-cob. Northern coast,
twelfth century A.D.
Collection of the Museum
of Anthropology and
Archaeology.
Chimu. Church with highly

decorated roof.
Contemporary ceramic.
Popular art. Central
mountain area. P a m p a de
la Quinua, Ayacucho.
Collection of the National
M u s e u m of Peruvian
Culture.
Chimu. Painting, Cuzco
School. Coronation of the
Virgin by the Holy Trinity.
Seventeenth century.
Collection o€ the M u s e u m
of Art.
Q’Anchi. Native dance,

Department of Cuzco.
..f
. "f. " .
. .
*.
.". f .
f
f f
f
.." f
f
f
f f
..
Huaylash. Native dance,

central mountain region,
directly related
to agricultural work.
Province of Huancayo
(Junín).
Workshop
for the restoration of easel
paintings.
Centre for the
Investigation and
Restoration of Monuments.
The National Institute of Gulture
Nearly all of Peru is archaeological territory, since it has been occupied

throughout its length and breadth over a period which, although it
cannot be calculated exactly, exceeds 20,000 years.
The need to keep such a record is becoming urgent, owing to
demographic expansion, which, regrettably and inexorably, entails the
occupation and violent destruction of ancient sites of human civilization.
This is necessarily a task for the State, acting through its specialized
bodies.
3. Research for conservation. It is difficult, not to say impossible, to
conserve, in the strict sense of the term, things that we know nothing
about.
It is indispensable to know and use the techniques needed to conserve both
fixed and moveable objects, and this presupposes the availability of h u m a n
and economic resources.
At the present time, the conservation of archaeological monuments,
especially the most impressive-in the case of Peru, the cities of Machu
Picchu, Chanchán, Pajatén, Chavín and many others-calls not only for
scientific research in order to gain knowledge of them, but also for research
into the best way of conserving them. This should consist in evolving tech-
niques for the conservation of adobe buildings so that they m a y even be
transported to a different site where it will be possible to conserve them
more effectively, techniques for conserving stone buildings, for controlling
the processes of salinization and destruction by animal life (hemipterous
insects,beetles, spiders,birds, termites,sparrows, swallows and oven-birds)
and even the industrial pollution of the atmosphere.
Recently, Peru has played its part in the international adoption of
practical measures to solve urgent problems concerning the protection of
cultural property. For example, it has signed bilateral agreements with a
number of countries for the prevention of the illegal traffic in archaeological
specimens and for their compulsory restitution to their country of origin.
Within the country, it has embarked on an unprecedented task: collabor-
ation with a community organization of major importance (the National
Agrarian Confederation) in the conservation of archaeological sites in the
province of Huánuco. The evaluation of this initial activity will make it
possible in the near future to advance in this field and to release hitherto
untapped resources.
Peru has signed agreements with the United Nations Development
Programme and with Unesco (PER/71/539 under the COPESCO Plan}
regarding the preservation and presentation of its national monuments
which are being fully implemented in the Cuzco-Puno area.
The reasons which have been, and are still advanced for preserving the
traces of our cultural heritage, s e e m obvious. W h a t legally justifies the
State’s ownership of a site, monument or building on private property, or
the removal of pre-Hispanic objects or the treasure of a church, or, through
ad hoc institutions, its being the repository not only of documents of a
41
historical and political nature, but also of administrative, legal, religious

and even family documents that reveal little-known facts on which his-
torians have not focused their attention?
The protection of historical and artistic monuments, in all their
forms-the works of m a n or those of nature-is obviously one aspect of the
preservation of the national heritage. Whatever the nature of a historical
monument or a work of art, it represents values which are at once cultural,
aesthetic and economic. H o w can w e fail to include them in the heritage
of a civilized nation?
This is the great and important mission which the National Institute of
Culture was designed to accomplish. Its Technical Directorate for the
Conservation of National Monuments and the Cultural Heritage is respon-
sible for laying down the general rules for the functioning of the executive
bodies in its area of competence and for co-ordinatingthe activities of those
bodies.
The plan for a national strategy for the protection and preservation of
this heritage must be based on an up-to-dateanalysis of the country’s
situation. This facilitates the task of establishing precise guidelines for
regular supervision of the safety of our cultural property, which is carried
out by the technical directorate. Action is channelled through the executive
bodies, most of which are renowned for their experience and for the
distinguished specialists on their staff.
The executive bodies in the field of the conservation of monuments and
the cultural heritage are the following: the National Library, the National
Archives, the National Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology, the
National Museum of History, the National Museum of Peruvian Culture,
regional museums, the Centre for the Investigation and Restoration of
Monuments, and regional centres.
NATIONAL LIBRARY
On 28 August 1821,the s a m e month in which independence was proclaimed,

the Supreme Decree establishing the National Library in Lima was signed,
in Government House, by the Protector of Peru, General José de San
Martin. This decree was countersigned by a celebrated American, the
Colombian Juan García del Río, a distinguished politician and m a n of
letters,w h o undoubtedly played an important part in the setting up of the
library.
It was officially opened on 8 February 1822, with a stock of 11,256 vol-
umes from various sources including the libraries of the religious orders, of
the University of San Marcos and of distinguished persons such as Hipólito
Unanue, and the private library of San Martin himself.
In the course of its history,it has suffered great damage from three tragic
events: the looting perpetrated by the Royalist troops in 1823 and 1824 and
by the occupying troops in 1881, and the fire of M a y 1943, a national
disaster, after which only 55 manuscripts and 1,009volumes were recovered.

After the fire, Dr Jorge Basadre, an eminent historian, took on the
arduous task and great responsibility of building up the library’s stocks.
H e gave it a new structure and made it the best organized institution of its
kind in South America: it was reopened in 1947 with 134,000 volumes.
At present, its organic structure is as follows: Technical Processes
Department, Inquiry and Reading Department, Department of National
Bibliography and National Copyright Register, Bibliographical Research
Department, Administration and Supervision Department, National School
of Librarians, National Department of Municipal Public Libraries and
National Department of School Libraries.
Objectives
The general objectives of the National Library are as follows:
To house the national heritage of books and the foreign books which are
indispensable to the scientific and technological development of the
country.
To arrange for the conservation, safe keeping and technical organization of
its bibliographical resources for public use.
To carry out research on its bibliographical stocks and other materials.
T o keep the National Copyright Register.
T o encourage the expansion of the national systems of public and school
libraries and to supervise their operation.
T o execute international aid projects and plans for public and school
libraries recommended by the General Directorate of the National
Institute of Culture.
T o carry out other activities within its sphere of competence in accordance
with the instructions of the General Directorate ofthe National Institute
of Culture.
Its specific objectives are the following:
To maintain the necessary legal arrangements throughout the Republic for
the registration of copyright.
To foster interest in research on the basis of its bibliographicaland documen-
tary stocks.
T o promote the establishment of a National Centre for Documentation and
Information concerning history, literature, bibliography and copyright.
To place its bibliographical and documentary stocks at the disposal of both
national and foreign research workers and the general public thus
facilitating the more extensive transfer of technical, scientific and
cultural information.
To conduct its activities in accordance with the directives set out in the
text of the L a w on Educational Reform.
To issue publications in keeping with the nature, purposes and practices of
m o d e m library science.
43
T h e National Library carries out substantial cultural extension work

by organizing bibliographical exhibitions,lectures and other activities,both
to mark events of national or universal interest, and to celebrate Peruvian
anniversaries.
The library constantly strives to reach a broad public, and it is aware
that this cannot be achieved unless every avenue is explored. Its sphere of
activity has been expanded, through the appropriate offices, to cover such
large sectors of the population a6 schoolchildren,manual workers and people
living in new housing areas in the suburbs.
Stock of the National Library

The stock of the National Library consists of 640,690 volumes, 11,625 maps,
7,710 musical scores, 7,275 photographs, 2,926 gramophone records,
1,515,773 issues of journals and periodicals, 5,684 items of audio-visual
material and 176,765 miscellaneous items.
The library has six reading-rooms,for Peru, humanities, science, news-
papers and periodicals, encyclopaedias and bibliographical research; it has
2,000 readers every day, and the subjects most studied are the social sciences
and pure and applied science.
A noteworthy feature is the libraryqsbibliographical stock of 41 incu-
nabula, 350 manuscripts and 27,000 rare and unusual books. A m o n g the
most valuable manuscripts are the following:
Orders Dispatched by the Marquis D o n Francisco Pizarro, Los Reyes (Lima),
1541.
Chronicle of King Enrique IV,from the Year 1454, when his Reign Com-
menced, to 1474,the Year of his Death.
Statutes of Viceroy D o n Francisco de Toledo, Los Reyes, 1604.
L a Púrpura de la Rosa, musical score by Tomás Torrejón de Velasco, Lima,
1701.
Los Motivos de Proteo, signed original by José Enrique Rodó, Montevideo,
1917.
Printed works include the first edition of the Christian Doctrine and Cat-
echism for the Instruction. of the Indians, Los Reyes, 1584, the oldest
in Peru.
The Newspapers and Periodicals room, besides other valuable collections
of Peruvian periodicals, contains the following:
Diario le Lima, Curioso, Erudito, Económico y Comercial, Lima, Niños
Expósitos Press, 1790-93.
Semanario Crítico, Lima, Royal Press of the Niños Expósitos, 1791.
Mercurio Peruano de Historia, Literatura y Noticias Públicas, Lima, Royal
Press of the Niños Huérfanos, 1791-95.
L a Gaceta de Lima, a political and literary weekly, Lima, Royal Press of
the Telégrafo, by Guillermo del Río, 1792.
Minerva Peruana, Lima, Niños Huérfanos Press, 1805-10.
44
L a Gaceta del Gobierno de Lima. Viva Fernando VII, Lima, Niños Huér-
fanos Press, 1810-21.
L a Guia Política, Eclesiástica y Militar del Virreynato del Perú, for the
year. ..,Lima, Royal Press of the Huérfanos, 1793-97.
L a Abeja Republicana, Lima, D. José Masías Press, 1822-23.
Attached to the National Library is a reprography laboratory, and the
library also provides a telephone information service. It receives a constant
stream of requests, from both within the country and abroad, for bibli-
ographies on a very wide variety of subjects, chiefly concerning Peruvian
matters. In order to comply with these requests it has recourse to its o w n
bibliographical stock and also collaborates with other libraries.
In 1973, the regular work of the National Library underwent the
following changes.
The reading hours were extended to include Saturday and Sunday
mornings. It was reorganized so as to serve the public better, by central-
izing its procedures and services.
Alterations were made to the reading-rooms,and their capacity was
increasedto a total of 150 readers at one time;reader services were improved
by transferring the books most in demand from remote stock rooms to
those close at hand, and the public catalogue was centralized in an easily
accessible room.
Furthermore, in the same year, the Department of National Bibli-
ography and National Copyright Register began the compilation of
69,347 bibliographical index cards and the registration of 3,189 works. This
department is also responsible for issuing the Library Bulletin, Fénix and
the Peruvian Bibliographical Directory, which are among the library’s
publications.
Decree-Law No. 19437, of 13 June 1972, stipulates that authors, pub-
lishers and printers of books, pamphlets, musical scores, phonograms,
printed reproductions of drawings, paintings, maps, plans, programmes of
performances or shows and, in general, any text printed on Peruvian
territory, must deliver, free of charge, within thirty days of completion of
printing, four copies of every item published, to be distributed as follows:
three to the National Library and one to the Municipal Library of the
capital of the province in which the work is published.
L a w No. 13714, of 1 September 1961, regulates and d e b e s copyright.
It provides for the setting up of the National Copyright Register as part
of the National Library, under the management and responsibility of its
director; entry of works in this register is optional.
In the past three years, the Inquiries and Reading Department has pro-
vided services for 2,804,443 users, who have made approximately 6 million
inquiries.A total of 11,733 research workers have consulted 106,155 workers
in the reading-room of the Bibliographical Research Department. It has
compiled 144 bibliographies, and has answered requests for advice by post,
337 from Peru and 572 from abroad. The Technical Processes Department
45
has acquired 427,484 bibliographical units (350,529journals and periodicals,

14,635 monographs and 62,320 miscellaneous items), which have been duly
processed.
The National School of Libraries is a higher educational establishment
whose purpose is to train professional staff for service in the National
Library and in the other libraries of the country. It was set up by Supreme
Decree on 23 June 1943, and has been attached to the National Library
since January 1944.The director of the latter is also principal of the school.
The teaching has evolved gradually, being brought up to date and
adjusted to suit requirements. Courses are given in general cultural subjects,
technical and professional subjects and specialized subjects. The school
provides training at a high level, and its general outlook and objectives are
such as to contribute to the all-roundtraining of librarians.
The National Department of Municipal Public Libraries is responsible
for encouraging the establishment of public and technical libraries, laying
down rules for them, training their staffand supervising their operation;it
performs this task on a countrywide basis. In Lima, it controls seven branch
libraries and one bookmobile; 400 readers use these services every month.
The National Department of School Libraries carries out studies on the
basis of which situations can be analysed with a view to planning the
establishment of a network of school libraries in areas where the new edu-
cational system is to be launched; it organizes and supervises such libraries.
With the technical assistance of the Organization of American States,
it draws up preliminary projects for the planning, at national level, of the
network of school libraries,and for the training of professional and auxiliary
staff for the development of school libraries in Peru.
It is responsible for the José de San Martin Library, a pilot school
library in Lima which has approximately one thousand readers a day.
GENERAL ARCHIVES OFFICE
The General Archives Office was established by a decree dated

15 M a y 1861, during the presidency of R a m ó n Castilla, under the name of
National Archives, with the aim of preserving the historic documents of
the colonial period and collecting and conserving those of the republican era.
For a long time the regulations governing archives were not standard-
ized, and it was impossible to carry on any systematic work for the pro-
tection, classification and cataloguing of documentary material. This
situation was remedied by Decree-Law No. 19414, of 16 M a y 1972, con-
cerning the protection, preservation and augmentation of the documen-
tary heritage. A few months earlier,by Decree-Law No. 19268, which is the
General L a w relating to the National Institute of Culture, the National
Archives had been re-named as the General Archives Office, and became an
executive body of the National Institute of Culture.
In accordance with the above-mentioned laws, the General Archives
46
Office is responsible for custody of the documentary material which it

organizes in order to be of service to research workers, university teachers
and students, the State itself and the general public.
Its materials come from: (a)the former colonial collections and those of
the republican era; (b) the various offices of the public sector, from which
they must be transferred after a period of thirty years having first been
weeded out and selected; (c) the registers of public notaries whose records
must be transferred two years after the death or retirement of the notary;
(d) the judicial files maintained by court registrars or clerks in the depart-
ment of justice, after the same time has elapsed and in the s a m e conditions
as those indicated in the previous provision; (e) private records, acquired
by donation, purchase or other means.
Once such documents have been transferred, they must be processed
by being sorted, classified and catalogued before being made generally
available.
In virtue of the above-mentioned laws, the national archives system
has been organized under the responsibility of the General Archives Office,
which in turn acts as a governing body; it is advised by the Technical
Archives Board.
As the head of the system, the General Archives Office organizes and
controls the operation of the Departmental Archives; it supervises the
functioning of the archives of the various public offices and has standard-
setting powers over them; it likewise supervises and checks the private
aes of documents,which must be entered in the register kept in the General
Archives Office and in the Departmental Archives.
The General Archives Office has three departments and bureaux in
which documents are preserved and classified. These are as follows:
Ofice of Historic Archives

This houses documents, records and files dating from 1533. Its collections
are catalogued as follows:
1. Colonial Section, with 7,730 dossiers of documents and approximately
1,500books.
2. Republican Section, with 1,300 dossiers.
3. Notaries Section, with 3,500 dossiers.
4. Donation Section, with approximately 200 dossiers.
5. Historic Archives of Finance Section, with 1,433 boxes of separate
documents and 4,274 books.
The Colonial Section is divided into series, as follows:
Real Audiencia (Royal Court). A total of 2,017 dossiers of documents dating
from 1540 to 1820. It comprises the following sub-series: (a) admin-
istrative-includes administrative regulations and correspondence,
lawyers’ papers, royal tribunals of justice, attorneys’ books and court
clerks’ files; (b) criminal suits and civil suits-contains individual
47
appeals, judgements, cases brought before the court, ecclesiastical

benefices, ecclesiastical chapters and the consulate; (c) special tri-
bunals-includes property of deceased persons,census figures,tribunals
of religious congregations,legacies and wills; (d) lands and estates.
Town Council. A total of 205 dossiers of documents dating from 1552
to 1821. There is an administrative sub-series which contains public
hearings, correspondence,guild documents and criminal cases.
Rural. With the following sub-series: (a) water tribunal, with forty-five
dossiers of documents dating from 1577 to 1821; (b) native law, with
forty dossiers of documents dating from 1522 to 1820, including laws
on the distribution of Indian taxes, land grants, census-taking and
visits to Indian towns; (c) title-deedsto land, with forty-four dossiers
dating from 1545 to 1825; (d) lands and estates, with forty dossiers
dating from 1693 to 1892; (e) community lands, with twelve dossiers
dating from 1545 to 1821.
Royal Tribunal of the Consulate.A total of 273 dossiers dating from 1613
to 1821. Contains documents relating to administration,customs, liti-
gation and merchant guilds.
Royal revenue from the mails. Contains seventy-seven dossiers dating
from 1772 to 1821, with relevant material concerning the operating of
the central and provincial administration of the viceroyalty.
Ecclesiastical affairs. A total of eighty-one dossiers dating from 1575
to 1821,concerned with the administrationof churches,choir benefices,
registers of supplies, convents and religious orders, hospitals, church
tribunals, account books of parishes and the Ecclesiastical Court.
Royal exchequer.A total of 3,506 dossiers and 1,500books dating from 1570
to 1821. Contains documents relating to customs offices,central admin-
istration, merchandise, the native peoples, import and export duties
and legal affairs,taxation court and Court of Exchequer, documents of
general and provincial administrations concerning State monopolies
-alcoholic spirits, quicksilver, pitch, playing cards, stamped paper,
gunpowder and tobacco,and documents relating to the Higher Council
for the Royal Exchequer,the Royal Mint,ecclesiasticaltaxes and tithes.
Higher governmental matters. A total of 131 dossiers dating from 1544
to 1839, covering royal concessions, correspondence, orders, Royal
Tribunal of Justice, ecclesiastical litigation,suits concerning residence,
magistrates and deputy treasurers,in both administrativeand judicial
aspects.
War. A total of 183 dossiers dating from 1681 to 1820. Contains records of
the auditor-general's oflice,the army and files concerning services and
supplies.
Tribunal of the Inquisition.Contains 294 dossiers dating from 1873 to 1920
and files dealing with litigations,the sequestration of property, admin-
istration, account books, public trials and judgements.
Jesuits. Contains 129 dossiers, dating from 1551 to 1767, of documents
48
from the time of the establishment of the Society of Jesus under the
viceroyalty until its expulsion.
Temporalities. Contains 360 dossiers dating from 1777 to 1818. Files of
the board that administered the property of the Jesuits, subdivided
into administration, benefices, taxes, colleges, litigations, correspon-
dence, accounts, gifts, foundations,inventories, alms, attorneys,income,
property.
Royal Tribunal of Mines. Contains eighty-three dossiers dating from 1585
to 1823 with data on general administration, regulations, correspon-
dence, deeds, claims, accounts, delegations from provinces.
Miscellaneous. A total of 230 dossiers of documents of different kinds.
T h e Republican Section contains documents belonging to the republican
portion of the nineteenth century. These include 1,330 dossiers, which are
being catalogued according to their origin.
The Archives of the Ministry of Justice, Religion, Education and Wel-
fare and of the High Court of Justice of Lima are also in the process of
being sorted and catalogued, as are a large number of documents of the
Post and Telegraph Office and private collections which have been donated
by their former owners to the General Archives Office.
The Notaries Section contains the registers of notaries of the colonial
period and those of the republic down to the year 1900. The collection
consists of 3,500 registers catalogued by century; each century in turn is
classified alphabetically according to the names of the notaries.
The Donations Section is m a d e up of documents formerly belonging to
private persons. The names of the donors have been retained. The ‘Moreyra’,
‘Bustamantede la Fuente’, ‘Manuel Pardo’ and ‘García Calderón’ archives
are among the most important ones.
The Historical and Colonial Archives of the Ministry of Finance and
Commerce are kept in the Historic Archives of Finance Section, which
operated under that name until December 1970, when it was made a
section of the General Archives Office. Its collections m a y be described in
very summary fashion as follows:
Colonial series. A total of 1,275 books in manuscript, 1,011 of which pertain
to the Royal Tribunal, 207 to the Tribunal of the Consulate and
57 miscellaneous items; the books date from 1548 to 1820.
In this section there are royal permits, royal orders, decrees, judge-
ments and regulations concerning military affairs during the time of
the viceroyalty.
Republican series. This forms a separate group, beginning in 1820. It is
divided into two sub-series: official documents and private documents.
This series includes a large collection of the originals of legal measures
such as decrees, ministerial decisions, supreme decisions, directorial
decisions and regulations. There are also books containing copies of
documents, communications and general correspondence of the orig-
inating ministry.
49
Ofice of Notarial and Judicial Archives

This office contains registers and lists of deceased or retired notaries as
from 1901. In compliance with the law, these documents have been incor-
porated into the General Archives. They are arranged in the order of the
files of the notary to whom they belonged, and include the registers of
original documents, minutes and parts of public registers, and the corre-
sponding indexes. These archives go as far as 1973.
There are also archives devoted to the files of court clerks who died
between 1901 and 1960.Only some of the relevant documentation has been
incorporated into the judicial section.
Ofice of Administrative Archives

This office deals with documents relating to public administration,
from 1901 onwards. It includes those of the Mïnistries of Justice, Finance,
Health, Labour and Agriculture, as well as the Court of Exchequer, the
Office of the Comptroller General, the Central Morgue, the Unemployment
Board, the Prefecture of Lima, etc.
T h e organization of the administrative archives was begun in 1968;
although the regulations concerning archives called for the establishment
of the ofice, no documents had been transferred to it until that date.
Since then its collections have grown considerably. T h e sorting and
cataloguing of these documents was begun in 1973, and is now in
progress.
Decree-Law No. 19414 provides that the documents produced by the
public sector must be transferred after thirty years to the General Archives
Office or to the corresponding departmental archives.
Departmental archives
The legal measures mentioned above have made it possible to establish

archives gradually in the various departments of the republic, and they
are responsible for the preservation, care and classification of existing
documents in their respective territorial circumscriptions.
Thus 1973 witnessed the establishment of the Departmental Archives of
Arequipa, which took over the historical collections preserved in the
University of San Agustín, to which have been added notarial,judicial and
administrative documents.
T h e Departmental Archives of La Libertad were organized in 1974,and
have begun their archival work with the registers and files of the record
officesof former times.
T h e Departmental Archives of Cuzco were established in March 1975,
when the collections kept in the Historical Archives of the University
of San Antonio Abad were transferred to the Departmental Archives.
50
They are now housed in a spacious modern building designed for this
purpose.
The Archives of Tacna and Piura were set up in 1976, and those of
Ayacucho and Cajamarca have just been established.
International aid
The Organization of American States (OAS)accepted the Plan for the

Modernization and Reorganization of the General Archives of the Nation,
drawn up in 1972, and has provided aid by training staff and supplying
equipment.
Co-operation of this kind began in 1973, and since then a multinational
seminar on the planning of national archives has been held and a short
course given on training in archives work. Fellowships have also been
granted to staff for advanced training at schools in Madrid (Spain) and
Córdoba (Argentina).
Through the OAS contribution it has been possible to obtain steel
shelving, microfilm equipment with two readers, and material and instru-
ments for the restoration of documents.
Publications
Twenty-nine volumes of the Revista del Archivo Nacional del Perú (Review
of the National Archives of Peru) were published between 1920 and 1971.
Three issues of the Revista del Archivo General de la Nación (Reviewof the
General Archives of the Nation) have appeared between 1972 and 1974.
Catalogues Nos. 1, 2 and 3 were issued during the s a m e period; they give
information on the content of the Historical Archives of the former Ministry
of Finance.
NATIONAL M U S E U M OF ANTHROPOLOGY
A N D ARCHAEOLOGY
T h e National Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology is one of the

principal institutions responsible for carrying out research on the archae-
ological heritage of Peru, preserving it and publishing information about it.
It dates back to the beginning of the republic in 1822, the year in which
it was founded by the liberator, José de San Martin. Since then, a great
deal has been done to enable the museum to fulfil its important role.
However, owing to economic and political circumstances, grave difficulties
have been constantly encountered as regards its organization and operation.
This was so from the beginning, for it could not be opened before 1826,
when D o n Mariano Eduardo de Rivero y Ustariz became its director.
T h e museum had a precarious existence in the nineteenth century and
was reorganized on a number of occasions. In 1881 it was plundered and
destroyed by the occupation forces during the W a r of the Pacific (1879-83).
51
It then had to close down, and only after great difficultieshad been sur-
mounted was it able to reopen formally in 1906, when it became the
National Museum of History, with one section devoted to history and
another to archaeology. M a x Uhle,a German archaeologist, was invited to
take charge of the latter section, and directed the museum until 1912.
Uhle made the archaeology section an excellent starting-pointfor the estab-
lishment of the museum, cataloguing collections and adding to them
through purchases and donations as well as by carrying out excavations
himself. His departure led to a new crisis for the museum, which lasted
until 1931. In that year, the National Museum was again set up, the State
museums being organized as two departments, history and archaeology,
under the direction of Luis E. Valcárcel. In 1938 the archaeology section
was separated from the museum and became what is now the National
Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology, under the direction of Julio
C. Tello.
Since then the museum’s collections have grown considerably, largely
owing to the addition of material found in the course of the museum’s own
investigations. At present it has more than 200,000 exhibits, organized in
collections of textiles, ceramics, metal, wood and other materials of organic
origin,physical anthropology, palaeobiology, etc. These collections require
increasingly complex technical and scientific organization, and the tech-
nical departments of the museum are consequently organized to deal with
research, preservation and cataloguing.
Archaeology in Peru was mainly developed by foreigners, and this has
not facilitated the establishment of large specialized centres, since the very
nature of the investigations made it necessary for the analysis and pro-
cessing of archaeological materials to be carried out in laboratories and
workshops outside the country. This situation still exists. Au materials
except those that can be studied without using special technical resources
must be sent to centres in other countries.
O n the other hand, archaeological research has become much more
technical in the last ten years. Hence the need for laboratories for carrying
out analyses, workshops for processing materials, etc., has become increas-
ingly urgent.
The items preserved in the museum require special treatment and study
which can only be carried out if well-equipped laboratories and workshops
are available. If we add to these items a similar (or greater) number of
equally important pieces scattered throughout small museums, private
collections,universities,etc., we realize that we are faced with an emergency
which must be dealt with quickly. Other points to be taken into account
are the constant increase in the amount of materials resulting from archae-
ological work and the confiscation of objects brought to light by illegal
excavation.
Hitherto the museum has been unable to establish an infrastructure
capable of carrying out any specialized research. A n infrastructure of this
52
kind cannot be established rapidly; it presupposes both a minimum of

material installations and the training of staff. However, a beginning was
made in 1974, with the financial sponsorship of the Peruvian foundation
EDUBANCO (of the Continental Bank), which has guaranteed its aid for
five years. This will make it possible to provide a specialized library for
pre-Columbian studies, with bibliographical services, a m a p library, photo-
graph library and film library, for which a special building has already
been constructed.
Furthermore,under an agreement with the Commission for Educational
Exchange between the United States and Peru (Fulbright Commission), a
programme of specialized training and refresher courses has been organized
to enable our technicians to attend apecialized institutes in the United
States under fellowships granted for between six months and two years.
At the same time,the agreement provides the museum with North American
specialists and graduate students w h o assist in carrying out our programmes
for the training of staff and the organization of technical services.
The museum's promotion and dissemination work takes the form of
exhibitions, lectures, short courses, guided tours, etc. Its exhibitions are of
various kinds. There is a permanent exhibition which shows the process
of the evolution of Andean m a n from the time of the first migrations to the
Central Andes 200 centuries ago until contact was made with the European
world in the sixteenth century. The development of the culture of the early
Peruvians and their principal art forms in the Chavín, Mochica, Chimú,
Huari, Paracas, Nasca and Inca styles, among others, can be traced, in
chronological order, by studying the ceramic pieces, stone and metal
objects, etc., with the help of explanatory captions, engravings, photo-
graphs and other didactic material, including printed guides.
The permanent exhibition is intended to show social change as a gradual
process of socio-economictransformation from nomad bands to town settle-
ments and ultimately to a more sophisticated form of society.
It shows h o w the processes of the domestication of the llama and the
cultivation of the most c o m m o n plants probably took place, both in the
mountains and along the coast, and then illuatrates the technological
achievements of rural people w h o began to build religious centres and
homes, replacing their former natural shelters by huts and houses near
places where food could be found. This first chapter in our long history
closes with the rise of textile technology and the introduction of ceramics.
We then enter the era of civilization,the coming of urban development.
Advanced agricultural technology, industry and trade made this new stage
possible. Chavín m e n carved stone images of their gods; gold was discovered,
and considerable progress was made in handicrafts; later, w e find regional
and urban cultures with social classes, poor people and lords, farmers,
craftsmen, priests and kings, and specialized handicrafts at an advanced
level of skill, indicating a high degree of domination of the environment.'
During this period war became a predominant factor, with the consequent
53
T h e National Institute of Culture
subjection of peoples. More food was produced and preserved, and this
gave rise to a population increase. Arable land was extended, and the use
of water systematized.
Communal grouping and communication between valleys gave rise to
the formation of regional States, the highest development of which was
reached in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries by the Incaic Empire. This
stage of our history ended with the Spanish conquest in 1532.
In addition to the permanent exhibition, there are others on specific
aspects of Andean culture, such as metallurgy, architecture, medicine, etc.
Temporary exhibitions are also organized in order to show specific aspects
of Andean culture, as well as the cultures of other areas. For instance, an
exhibition on meso-American cultures was recently held in co-operation
with the Mexican embassy.
The museum also carries on important activities outside its o w n prem-
ises. It co-operates with community and educational organizations, pre-
paring exhibitions for schools and remote towns. It also takes its exhibitions
to the provinces and, in co-operation with similar institutions,to different
countries throughout the world. In 1975-76, it presented exhibitions in
Japan, Italy and Cuba.
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF HISTORY
The basic function of the National Museum of History is to safeguard,

study and disseminate information about vestiges of the past in Peru. A
museum should not be a repository of inanimate objects, but a place where
they take on life and meaning for present-day man; accordmgly, the
National Museum of History, by m e a n s of its exhibitions, seeks to show
the continuity of Peruvian cultural development in the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries, and to make information about it available to the
entire community.
The permanent task of the museum is to promote research and to
reassess documentary records and interpret them in the light of new
developments in research. The symposium that is to be held on ‘ethno-
history and Andean anthropology’ is an example of this new approach to
the study of documentary material.
The National Museum of History succeeds the former Bolívar Museum,
the Museum of Independence and the Musenm of the Republic, which were
housed in the same building, the Quinta de Magdalena Vieja, from 1921
to 1934.
It has a specialized library and archives of historical documents. It also
publishes a review entitled Historia y Cultura.
The museum is divided into three sections dealing with different
aspects of Peruvian history, the emphasis being placed on the period of
independence.
T h e first section is the Casa de los Libertadores, formerly a manor house
54
built by the Viceroy Joaquín de la Pezuela in the early years of the nine-
teenth century. It was subsequently occupied by the liberators, San Martin
and Bolívar, and served as the seat of the so-called‘Gobiernode la Magda-
lena’ of Francisco García Calderón, during the W a r of the Pacific. This
building forms the entrance to the museum, and is specially designed to
depict the decline of the Spanish Empire in Peru and the advent of political
independence.
There is an important picture gallery in this section, with portraits
of persons who were directly involved in the independence movement.
Canvases painted by José Gil de Castro, known as the ‘painter of the
liberators’, among which are full-length portraits of the liberator, Simón
Bolívar, and José Olaya, one of the leaders of the independence movement,
form the nucleus of the collection. A m o n g other important canvases is an
oil painting of the Battle of Ayacucho, based on a sketch of the P a m p a de
la Quinua, made while the battle was raging, in which the painter has laid
special stress on the disposition of the troops and the natural background.
The colonial oratory of the old manor house is preserved in this first
section of the museum and a special room has been set aside to display
personal articles belonging to Doña Manolita Sáenz, Bolivar’s lady-love.
The show-cases in this section contain objects related to the lives of
the liberators as reflected by their stay in the house-objects such as the
desk used by D o n José de San Martin and Simón Bolívar’s bedstead.
The second part of the museum is the colonial gallery which runs round
part of the old garden, with the fig tree which Bolívar planted in the pres-
ence of Bishop Francisco Javier de Luna Pizarro, President of the First
Congress of the Republic.
The exhibition is made up of two parts. The first gives a panorama of
Peruvian colonial art, especially that of Cuzco, consisting of outstanding
paintings and articles belonging to colonial Peruvian artists.
T h e second part of this gallery, which is larger than the first one,
contains a valuable collection of original portraits of the rulers of colonial
Peru, beginning with Governor Francisco Pizarro and ending with Viceroy
José de la Serna, who surrendered in Ayacucho on 9 December 1824.
T h e show-casesin this gallery give one an idea of what everyday life
was like during this stage in Peruvian history. The exhibition includes
colonialweapons,period costumes,liturgicalobjects and household furniture.
T h e third section of the museum, which contains a number of rooms,
is intended to give some idea of the first century of republican Peru. A m o n g
its most important exhibits are the first Peruvian flag, designed by José
de San Martin, the ‘Declaration of Independence’ (an oil painting by the
Peruvian artist Lepiani), the Order of the Sun, designed by San Martin,
and Simón Bolívar’s sword.
This display of republican history also includes a small gallery of
nineteenth and twentieth-century Peruvian paintings dealing with his-
torical events that took place in republican Peru.
55
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF PERUVIAN CULTURE
The aims of the National Museum of Peruvian Culture,which was founded

in 1946 by Luis E.Valcárcel, axe to carry out research on, and preserve
and publish information about the creative activities of Andean m a n
throughouthis culturaldevelopment;in other words,to show the continuity
of certain forms of popular art and technology. Its collections therefore
include items from pre-Columbiantimes and the colonial and early repub-
lican periods down to the most recent forms of popular art, or what is
technically called folk culture.
This museum meets the need for an overall view of history showing the
continuum of Peruvian culture. Such a view is essential to the consolidation
of our national identity,the constitution of which is the result of the amal-
gamation of a number of ethnic groups and peoples.In this respect it differs
from what a great museum of Peruvian archaeology should be, since the
pre-ColumbianPeruvian cultures,which extend over no less than 200 cen-
turies, deserve to be given individual treatment so as to throw light on
their achievements.
It is the duty of the National Museum of Peruvian Culture, as a body
called upon to set forth the various stages in our culture, to organize
exhibitions that are organically linked and convey a sense of history; in
other words, exhibitions that are both synchronicand diachronic.This goal
is attained through two specific and equally importantfunctions-research
and preservation. The former is based on the need to increase our know-
ledge of all fields of anthropology,including ethnology,archaeological and
traditional technology, ethno-history,linguistics and folklore; the aim
of the latter is to safeguard and preserve vestiges of the past and keep
them for future generations-in other words,to conserve them. Technical
measures must be taken at all times to avoid their loss, deterioration or
destruction,and this requires the installation of laboratories designed for
the purpose.
If this principle, which governs the operation of the National Museum
of PeruvianCulture,is to be applied fully,specialized staffmust be engaged
and museographic collections and technical equipment must be acquired.
The expansion and remodelling which have already been planned will
make it possible to bring the museum into line with current museographical
trends,in that its displaysw ill servenot only the specialistand the student,
but also the entire community. The aim is to present an overall view
of Peruvian cultural development, using aids recommended by museo-
logical technicians to supply or supplement information which is lacking
on certain points-replicas, copies,photographs, dioramas, cinema,sound
recordings,etc.
The work of the museum could be rationalized if there were special
sections for the different levels of intellectual development of visitors.
Introductoryrooms might be provided for schoolchildren,where they could
56
be given elementary lessons by qualified staff,so that they could appreciate

more fully the material exhibited. A large and specialized staff would be
required, but it could easily be provided by using volunteer museum
workers.
Another policy that should be adopted is that of holding exhibitions
outside the museum’s o w n premises,for it is an important part of the work
of every museum to provide out-of-schooleducation. For this purpose it
must frequently publish material of an educational nature.
At present the National Museum of Peruvian Culture has on display in
its exhibition rooms the most representativeexamples of‘popular’Peruvian
art of every period. It has some 5,000pieces in its collections,and 2,500 of
them are displayed.
There are unique ceramic pieces from Santiago de Pupuja (Puno),
including fine examples of the famous ‘bull of Pucará’, named from the
place where it is sold, and ceramic pieces from Quinua (Ayacucho), as well
as from Amazonía and other regions of Peru.
The art of the decorated mate (ornamental teacup), which dates from
remote times, is very well represented in this display, perhaps the most
complete one in the permanent exhibition. There are large water-colours,
showing a considerable amount of detail,thus documenting this exhibition
of pieces from the pre-Hispanic,colonial, nineteenth-century republican
and present-dayperiods.
A selection of other pieces,‘Passioncrosses’and carved chests gives an
idea of this popular art form in the Department of Ayacucho.
Textiles and garments from various regions of Peru are displayed in a
special room. A large poncho and a rug from the ‘transition’period are
outstanding for their size and beauty.
Popular carving is also well represented by stylized figures of the
three Magi, dancers, saints and processions. There are also masks of a
satirical or magical nature, representing well-known personages, which
were generally used in religious or secular festivities.
In the room devoted to Amazonian tribes, a variety of ceramic pieces,
garments, arrows,ornaments and other items show us the quality of their
art, which is highly symbolic.
There are twenty magnificent water-coloursby Pancho Fierro,a popular
twentieth-century painter from Lima, together with a portrait of him
painted by Nicolás Palas.
The colonial statuary collection shows the visitor the exquisite work of
the santeros (carvers of saints’images) and indigenous painters, as well as
the famous ancient figures carved in stone from Huamanga (Ayacucho).
The museum also exhibits a small but very select collection of ceramics,
painted and embroidered textiles and woodwork from ancient Peru, thus
completing the panorama of the various stages in Peruvian art and its
development. In this way it achieves its objective-to familiarize the
public with Peruvian art forms and culture of all periods.
57
Noteworthy research and preservation work has been done by the skilled
staff, w h o for m a n y years have devoted themselves to safeguarding and
displaying the art forms of the various regions of Peru. Their work is
obviously bearing fruit for there is n o w great interest in ‘popular art’,
which used to be looked down upon-so m u c h so that the National Culture
Prize for 1975 in the plastic arts was awarded to a ‘popular’artist, Joaquín
López Antay, a painter of altar-pieces from Ayacucho whose works have
been exhibited in the museum for thirty years.
The museum has a library which is open not only to research workers
but also to university students. At present the library collection exceeds
5,000 volumes; it is the first specialized library in Peru to deal with the
Andean area. One of its main functions is collecting and Gling articles
concerning Peru that have been published in national and foreignperiodicals.
The Revista del Museo Nacional, which is published by the museum, is
the oldest specialized scientific journal that has been published without
interruption in Latin America. Its principal contributors are its o w n
research workers and national and foreign research workers w h o deal with
the anthropological aspects of Peru.
Regional museums
The main regional museums are the following:

Regional Museum of Ancash Huaraz, which has a large collection of Chavín
stone, Mochica, Chimú and Inca ceramics and textiles, mate drinking
vessels and wooden instruments from various places along the coast.
Regional Museum of Ayacucho, with its headquarters in the ‘Simón
Bolívar’ Cultural Complex, which was donated to Peru in 1975 by the
Government of Venezuela. Its collections include archaeological pieces
from the area, belonging to different periods, sixteenth to nineteenth-
century paintings and historic items related to the independence
movement, especially weapons used in the Battle of Ayacucho.
Regional Museum of Cuzco, which possesses a valuable collection of six-
teenth to nineteenth-century Cuzco paintings, as well as other articles
and furniture of the same period. It also exhibits a small but important
collection of pre-Hispanic Cuzco ceramics.
Regional Museum of Ica, which has a rich collection of pre-Columbian
ceramics, with special emphasis on the Nasca, Paracas and Chincha
styles. It also possesses coats made of cloth and feather, and an oste-
ological collection, including skulls that display anomalies, artificial
deformation and the marks of surgical operations.
‘Brunning’ Regional Museum of Lambayeque, which has a large archae-
ological collection of gold pieces. It also has a h e collection of ceramics,
especially the type known as Vicús, and a small collection of textiles
and stone pieces.
58
Centre for the Investigation

and Restoration of Monuments
T h e purpose of the Centre for the Investigation and Restoration of Monu-

ments, which was set up in 1973,is to investigate,protect, conserve,restore
and catalogue both fixed and movable monuments dating from the pre-
Hispanic, colonial and republican periods. It conducts its nation-wide
activities through two regional centres, and also through local centres in
various places of archaeological and historical interest.
For the purposes of the scientific and technical work of specialists in
the conservation of the nation’s monuments, the centre has been divided
into departments, each of which carries out practical projects in its o w n
field, in accordance with a programme based on the general policy for the
area. At present, the Centre for the Investigation and Restoration of
Monuments has five departments: Archaeological Monuments, Research on
National Monuments, Restoration of Monuments, Historic and Artistic
Monuments, and Conservation of Works of Art. These departments are
staffed by professionals, who collaborate and pool their experience, in
archaeology, anthropology, architecture, engineering, chemistry, the his-
tory of art, and also the techniques of conservation,restoration,cataloguing,
photography and archives.
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL MONUMENTS
This department is responsible for the protection, conservation,registration

and presentation of fixed and movable archaeological monuments situated
in Peru. Its principal functions are to supervise, catalogue, register and
survey monuments and archaeological zones and to delimit the area to be
dealt with. It works at national, regional and local levels; its staff consists
of the archaeologists of the Centre for the Investigation and Restoration
of Monuments.
The centre has three sections, which are responsible for the supervision,
cataloguing and surveying and delimitation of archaeological monuments
respectively. The regional centres of Trujillo and Cuzco have their own
separate departments of archaeological monuments. The archaeological
areas of PuruchuCo, Pachacamac, Sechín, Chan-Chan,Puno and Ayacucho
have local centres for research and conservation,each of which is under the
authority of a resident archaeologist.
T h e department is at present surveying and inventorying archaeological
monuments and marking out those parts which are to be left intact. A m o n g
archaeological monuments requiring urgent attention, priority is given to
those of metropolitan Lima and areas of urban expansion. Nevertheless,
other regions of the country also receive attention, according to the funds
and manpower available.
Studies with a view to inventorying and surveying are now being
59
carried out in various coastal valleys and highland basins: Rímac, Lu&,
Chancay, Cañete and Ica. Similar studies have been started in Ayacucho-
Huanta-San Miguel and Mala.
In order to defend and protect archaeological monuments it has been
necessary to mark out their boundaries, provide wardens and co-operate
with bodies in the public and private sectors for the protection of more
than twenty of them. A m o n g the most important of these are the rock
carvings of Checta, the archaeological remains of Villa El Salvador, Mateo
Salado, Los Tres Santiagos and Huerta Santa Rosa, in Lima, and T a m b o
Colorado, in Pisco. This is a never-ending task which is closely bound up
with the activities of bodies in the various sectors, especially in urban
districts. A comprehensive preliminary study has also been made with a
view to the delimitation and conservation of the geoglyphics of the Pampas
de Nasca, in Ica.
The Department of Archaeological Monuments also catalogues archae-
ological objects in private collections and keeps records of them, and it
co-operates with other State bodies in safeguarding the movable and
immovable archaeological heritage.
DEPARTMENT OF RESEARCH
ON NATIONAL MONUMENTS
The aim of this department is to draw up research projects and conduct

research in the fields of archaeology and the history of art. It is at present
engaged in archaeological research in Garagay, Villa El Salvador, Los Tres
Santiagos, Ancón, and the P a m p a de San José; all these are sites in the
valley of Lima. T h e department supervises archaeologicalresearch projects
(excavation or exploration) carried out in the country, and it gives advice
and information on projects being conducted by national and foreign
research workers in Peru; its advice and reports are submitted to the
Commission for the Appraisal of Archaeological Projects, and constitute a
basis for the agreements concluded by the latter. The department also
advises the management of the centre on technical questions concerning
archaeological research; it co-ordinates the archaeological research work
done by individuals and establishments specializing in such work, promotes
research and answers queries put forward by the Directorate of the Centre
or the Technical Directorate for the Conservation of Monuments and the
Cultural Heritage on points connected with archaeology and the history
of art.
T h e centre's most important research project at present is that being
carried out in the archaeological complex of Garagay, situated in Lima,
very close to the international airport. It is a large, U-shaped ceremonial
complex, comprising three pyramidal structures around a large comrtyard.
Its walls are decorated with multicoloured friezes,with mythological images
60
in relief which are obviously related to the Chavín art of the mountains of
the north. The relics of past cultures include unique items such as a set of
modelled figures which were certainly votive offerings.
Simultaneously with the excavations, work proceeds on the study and
processing of the objects found, in order to ensure their conservation. For
the time being, work on the site is at the research stage; in a few years’
time it will be possible to open it to the public, and arrangements are being
made accordingly-boundaries are being marked out, a wall is being built
around the site, and a museum is being constructed.
DEPARTMENT FOR THE RESTORATION

OF MONUMENTS
This department is responsible for the conservation and presentation of the

immovable cultural heritage. It is a technical body, staffed by professional
architects and engineers who have specialized in the restoration of ancient
buildings. Its work covers all aspects of restoration, and its activities are
as follows:
Surveys
Before this department takes action, a careful study is made of immovable
property which is declared to be a monument, in order to delimit the scope
of the planner’s work.
This study includes the investigation and examination of floors, walls,
roofs, structures and, in general, all components of the monument. The
original plan for distribution, decoration and alterations m a y be adjusted
in accordance with this study.
In addition, archives, libraries and photograph collections are searched,
in case they contain other information which will make it possible to place
the monument in its correct temporal and spatial context.
W o r k accomplished so far includes the restoration of the following
monuments: the Belén Complex, in Cajamarca; the churches of Belén and
Huamán, in Trujillo; and the Casa de Pilatos (headquarters of the National
Institute of Culture), the Quinta de Presa, the Casa de Canevaro (head-
quarters of the Centre for the Investigation and Restoration of Monuments)
and the Museum of Italian Art, all of which are in Lima.
Various public bodies have collaborated in the work of restoring monu-
ments with the aim of purchasing them for use by their branch offices. In
this way a considerable amount of restoration work is being done in the
towns of Ayacucho, Cuzco, Lima and Trujillcr.
61
Implementation of restoration
and new building projects
In the Lima area, the department is directly responsible for the restoration
work which is either planned by the National Institute of Culture or
entrusted to it by another establishment. For work outside that area, the
department acts solely as a supervisor.
Supervision and control of private projects
Projects for the restoration of monuments and their adaptation for new
uses which are not carried out by the Department for the Restoration of
Monuments, or by another branch of the National Institute of Culture are
constantly supervised, or advice about them is proffered, and they are also
subjected to checks and inspections intended to avoid irreversible damage
both to the buildings, considered separately, and to the general aspect
of cities.
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORIC
A N D ARTISTIC MONUMENTS
Its activities m a y be summarized as follows: supervision of action taken

that affects buildings of historic or architectonic interest; dealing with
requests for registration, cataloguing and permission to export works of
art; compiling inventories and catalogues of the immovable national heri-
tage; assessing the artistic and historical worth of such buildings, to deter-
mine whether they should be declared to be monuments; carrying out
surveys for the delimitation of monument zones and urban areas containing
monuments in towns or villages in Peruvian territory; and giving technical
advice on the conservation and treatment of monuments, buildings of
historic and/or artistic interest, and zones and urban areas containing
monuments. T h e department also advises the regional commissions.
The secretariat of the Technical Commission for the Assessment of
Architectonic Projects, whose duty is to maintain the fìles for assessment,
comes under this department.
DEPARTMENT FOR THE CONSERVATION

OF W O R K S OF ART
The task of this department is to protect, conserve and enhance the value
of the movable artistic heritage. To this end, it studies and restores works
of art as required. For the purposes of its work, the department is equipped
with a large modern chemistry laboratory and workshops for painting,
sculpture, textile production and ceramics. Its technicians co-operate
closely in their work.
The department works in collaboration with the other departments of
62
the Centre for the Investigation and Restoration of Monuments and decides
what types of treatment and materials should be used in restoring monu-
ments. It likewise gives expert advice, inspects works of art and handles
requests to export contemporary works which do not belong to the national
heritage of monuments.
The Centre for the Investigation and Restoration of Monuments also
has three auxiliary ofices whose services are available to all the depart-
ments. These are: Archives and Library, Topography and Drawing, and
Photography.

and the COPESCO Plan
The COPESCO Plan originated with a request from the Peruvian G o v e m -

ment to the United Nations for technical assistance in developing tourism
in the Cuzco-Puno area; this task was entrusted to Unesco. A number
of Unesco missions decided upon the goals to be pursued; the measures
taken by the Peruvian Government were based on Unesco’s reports and
recommendations.
The Special Commission for the COPESCO Plan was set up in 1969.
This inter-ministerial commission, whose chairman is the Minister of
Industry and Trade, consists of delegates from the Ministries of Housing,
Education, Foreign Affairs and Transport and Communications, and from
the National Planning Institute, the General Directorate of Tourism and
the General Management of the National Tourist Company; it is advised
by the experts and consultants of the United Nations Development Pro-
gramme (UNDP).
In 1973, as a result of the studies undertaken, a request was submitted
by the Peruvian Government to the Inter-American Development Bank
(IDB)for a loan,to be used to finance the programme for overhauling infra-
structures, restoring monuments and building hotels in key spots, in order
to attract more tourists and, hence, foreign currency, which would help in
the general development of the area.
The zone to which the COPESCO Plan applies covers an area of approxi-
mately 500 square kilometres in the eastern part of the Peruvian Andes,
between the Vilcabamba and Vilcanota ranges. It includes Lake Titicaca,
which was the most densely populated region in the country in pre-
Columbian times, and the city of Cuzco, the capital of the empire, around
which a series of Indian settlements sprang up, in about the year 1570,
gaining in importance as time went on. They include: San Sebastián, San
Jerónimo, Andahuailillas, Urcos and Sicuani; in the valley of the river
Urubamba, the village of the same name; Pisac, Calca and Chincheros. In
the mid-sixteenth century, the Jesuits founded a group of missions on the
shores of Lake Titicaca, which later took on considerable importance:Puno,
now the capital of the province, Ilave, Acora, Juli,Pomata and Zepita.
63
The main purpose of the COPESCO Plan is to make the area as attractive
to tourists as possible. To achieve this, the infrastructure must be aug-
mented: more and better hotels are needed, and more roads and railways;
certain areas must be supplied with electricity, and the water mains and
sewage networks must be expanded and improved. The pre-Hispanic and
vice-regal monuments of the Puno-Cuzco axis are the main feature of the
project and it is to be expected that adequate restoration and presentation
of these monuments and their promotion as a tourist attraction, together
with improved means of access and hotel accommodation, will result in an
increase in the number of visitors to the area.
The monuments to be found in the Cuzco-Puno area form one of the
richest and finest groups from the point of view of archaeology, architec-
tonics and art. Few areas in Latin America can boast monuments in such
profusion and of such high quality as this zone. There are important monu-
ments dating from the ninth century A.D. to the present day; we need men-
tion only, in the field of archaeology, Pucará, Machu Picchu,Ollantaytambo
and Pisac, and in the vice-regal period the cathedral and church of the
Compañía del Cuzco, the churches of Andahuailillas and Juli, and the
cathedral of Puno. Besides these, there are the many ceramic, stone and
metal objects from the pre-Columbian period and a profusion of works of
painting, sculpture and silverwork from the periods of the viceregency and
the nineteenth-century republic. It should be borne in mind that there are
more than a hundred archaeological sites and that the production of the
Cuzco school of painting is estimated at several hundred thousand pictures.
In every church, besides the pulpit, picture-frames and other gilded orna-
ments, there are at least two or three gilded altar-pieces with multicoloured
images.Altar frontals,steps, sanctuary, tabernacle and sacred vessels made
of silver are to be found in any church. The monstrance, made of gold and
precious stones, that is used in the Cathedral of Cuzco weighs 22 kilograms,
and that of the church of La Merced almost as much, The three enclosed
convents of the city of Cuzco contain a wealth of artistic treasures. The
PER-39 Project has listed some 500 paintings in the convent of Santa
'Teresa.However,the existence of the citadel of Machu Picchu alone would
be enough to make the area outstandingly attractive to tourists.
T h e state of repair of most of these monuments is not what it might be.
As a result of weathering, neglect and shortage of funds, the great majority
of the monuments are urgently in need of conservation, maintenance and
restoration.
The projects for Puno include restoration of the cathedral of Puno,
four churches and the Casa Cuentas Zavala in Juli, and also the excavation
and development of the archaeological complexes of Sillustani and Pucará.
Work is now under way on this last site, 150 kilometres north-east of
Puno. The work began in August 1976, simultaneously with the initial
course on archaeological techniques sponsored by the National Institute of
Culture and Unesco, in which some twenty archaeologists, both from Peru
64
and from the countries of the Andean Group took part. The results of the
archaeological excavations thus undertaken are already evident and one
of the oldest and most important cultural settlements in the history of
Andean m a n is being revealed.
It should be noted that the COPESCO Plan has undergone a gradual
transformation; it began as an attempt to reconstitute the monuments so
as to improve and increase tourism in the area, and has become an overall
plan of development for all the sectors involved in the socio-economiclife
of the region. Although this change has meant a shift of interest from the
monuments themselves to a more general concern with all sectors, it has
been borne in mind that the main issue is tourism, and that cultural tourism
depends on the monuments, which are the principal centre of attraction and
the factor which will promote development. The best proof of this is Machu
Picchu, which receives more visitors than any other monument in South
Am erica.
Training in the arts
For a long time,art education in Peru was unrelated to the real situation
of the country. As a result, the artists trained were out of touch with their
social environment, and were conditioned to serve a privileged minority.
This was certainly not the kind of education which could develop significant
relations between artistic achievements and society.
On the other hand, the traditional means of exhibiting and selling works
of art (galleries,museums, concert halls and theatres) and the mass media
(radio, television and record companies) offered virtually the only oppor-
tunity for artists to work, and this meant that there was a small group of
‘recognized’artists, while the vast majority of them were unemployed, and
subsequently abandoned their work to look for an occupation in which
they could earn a living.
Moreover, the training in the arts provided in schools and colleges
helped to reinforce the ideology of the system, by encouraging respect for
‘recognized) art and uncritically supporting the existence of a culture
which was alien to the concerns of the majority.
T h e educational reform which the revolutionary government began
in 1969 is one of a number of far-reaching structural changes now in
progress; it is in line with new ideas about all levels, methods and aspects
of education. T h e main features of its philosophy, which is embodied in the
General L a w on Education, are: the humanistic and democratic nature of
the new education; education through work and for work, and for the
assertion of our national identity;education based on the values of a critical
national outlook, creation and co-operation,and new, flexible and diver-
sified teaching methods-in short, education to eliminate cultural domi-
nation and to free the creative and expressive abilities of Peruvians.
65
SCHOOLS FOR TRAINING IN THE ARTS
According to its statutes,one of the aims of the National Institute of Culture

is to provide training in the arts in specialized educational centres and in
accordance with the General L a w on Education.
As from 1973, on this legal basis, the institute took over the national
and regional schools of art previously controlled by the Ministry of Edu-
cation, which give effect to its policies.
Various commissions made studies and appraisals of the schools of art.
In April 1976,one of them submitted to the ministry a proposal regarding
the structure of the system for vocational training in the arts.
A general idea of the new direction in which these schools are heading
can be gained from the suggestions made by these commissions. In music,
for example, the aim is to cater for every level, providing not only theor-
etical teaching,but also practical training, which awakens creativity, helps
people to understand music and stimulates the desire to become familiar,
through research, with all the aspects-the past history and the future
possibilities-of music in our country. These suggestions also advocate
turning to the community, as a means of gathering fresh stimuli and new
ideas which express the rightful aspirations and needs of society.
O n the practical side, some of these objectives have been embodied in
advanced and intermediate-leveltechnical courses, and also in folk music
workshops, where those w h o wish to become professional musicians can
apply their theoretical knowledge. Furthermore, emphasis has been laid
on conducting choirs as a means of uniting the community artistically and
socially. For this reason, the greatest attention is paid to the social impli-
cations of such work, so that educational activities m a y be co-ordinated,
expanded and interrelated.
A commission set up in September 1976 to implement the strategy for
the gradual reform of schools of art is now at work; conversion will begin
in January 1977.
There are twenty-six institutions in the area which carry out the above-
mentioned policies. Their aims are as follows: (a) to train professionals in
the various arts in accordance with the academic and pedagogical standards
approved by the General Directorate; (b) to contribute to the development
and promulgation of the arts throughout the country, in accordance with
the cultural promotion plans approved by the General Directorate; (c) to
conduct research in the area concerned.
These schools have traditionally offered training in five branches of art:
drama, folklore, fine arts (plastic arts), ballet and music.
There are schools catering for all these branches in the capital of the
republic. Regional schools specialize in the same branches, with the
exception of folklore.
There are two drama schools, one national, in Lima, and the other
regional, in Trujillo.
66
The National Drama School was founded in 1946, and was at h s t

known as the National School of Theatrical Art. In 1957,it was reorganized
and moved to its present premises (La Cabaña Theatre). Since then, it has
attracted the best actors in the country, and has put on such major works
as La Celestina and Threepenny Opera.
It is at present reorganizing its curriculum. As well as courses in acting
and stage design, lasting three and two years respectively, puppetry and
production will also be available as special options from 1977 onwards.
The National School of Folklore, established in 1948,is reorganizing its
training and research work in the following areas: courses for performers,
including training in playing Andean instruments-the charango, guitar,
violin, flute and harp-and artistic guidance; assessment and registration
of performers; extension courses, given from time to time for ordinary
school pupils w h o have been tested beforehand; research (in the next two
years, training courses will be available in methodology and techniques of
research for students w h o wish to do research in folklore).
As a result of these activities it will be possible to: (a)direct the work of
conservation, promulgation and promotion of specimens of folklore, seeing
them in a critical perspective which wiU help to prevent them from being
distorted and their authenticity denied and will contribute to their recovery
and reassessment; (b) in addition, carry out research into Peruvian folklore
and its socio-culturalsetting. To this end, priority should be given to estab-
lishing first-hand contacts with performers in the traditional arts.
For the plastic arts, there are a national school and two regional schools.
The National School of Fine Arts, which since it was founded, has been
housed in a seventeenth-century colonial building listed as a national monu-
ment, is the oldest establishment in the country providing an education
in the arts. It was founded in 1919 by the Peruvian painter, Daniel
Hernández; it has a long tradition, and it is rightly held in esteem, for it
has trained many eminent workers in the plastic arts in Peru today.
José Sabogal, a very important figure in the Peruvian arts, was principal
of the school in the 1930s and early 1940s;he was responsible for conceptual
and technical revival, casting off the influence of the European academic
tradition and instilling in the students the creative spirit of a new kind of
art, which drew its inspiration from indigenous themes.
Sabogal was the founder of the ‘indigenous’ movement in painting,
some of the most outstanding members of which are Julia Codesido, Camilo
Blas (Alfonso Sánchez Urteaga), Enrique Camino Brent, Jorge Vinatea
R e p o s o and Carlos Quispez Ash.
Today, the school offers courses in painting, sculpture, sketching, the
graphic arts, engraving and ceramics: the last three were introduced
recently.
The oldest of the regional h e arts schools, that of Cuzco, has been in
existence for more than twenty-five years; the others are more than ten
years old. These regional schools operate in the towns of Piura, Trujillo,
67
Huaraz, Iquitos, Ica, Ayacucho, Arequipa, Cuzco, Puno and Juliaca.

Since 1968,the schools have followed a common-corecurriculum;they all
offer courses in painting and sculpture,and in addition-as optional courses
which will give studentsthechanceof a betterjob-the following:engraving,
mural painting, commercial art, ceramics,woodwork and stone-cutting.
The course in both the National School and the regional schools is at
present of six years' duration.
For technical reasons, since these schools accepted students who had
not completed their secondary education, diplomas were not awarded,but
only proficiency certificates. The awarding of diplomas in the National
School was suspended for the same reason. A ministerial resolution of
September 1976 laid the foundations for the endorsement of professional
attainments by the National Institute of Culture.
Professional ballet training is given in the National School of Ballet.
This school, founded in 1967, was the first to offer a training course for
dancing teachers at the level of common-coresecondary education.
The school has a junior training section for children and young people
between the ages of 7 and 15; this is intended to provide an introduction
to dancing which w ill enable them subsequently to take the vocational
training course. The junior course lasts seven years and the vocational
course for four years, and these together constitute the h s t part of the
advanced course; the second part of the advanced course is still at the
planning stage.
There is a National School of Music in Lima,and twelve regional schools
in the towns of Piura, Chiclayo, Huaraz,Trujillo,Iquitos,Huánuco, Junín,
Ayacucho, Arequipa, Cuzco, Puno and Juliaca.
The National School of Music was founded in 1945 as the National
Conservatory of Music, a branch of the Alcedo National Academy of Music.
Musical education in Peru then entered a new stage, that of vocational
training. Study plans and syllabi for the higher levels were drawn up. New
subjects such as composition,conducting and music-teachingwere intro-
duced, and the training of instrumentalists and singers was improved. The
National Symphony Orchestra,founded a few years previously, assisted in
raising the standard of teaching and in opening up more occupational
opportunities.
Nevertheless,although this was a great step forward,the fact remained
that the conservatory was designed on the lines of European models and,
although it provided a Western type of musical training,it did not meet
the real needs of Peru as a Latin American country,whose problems were
quite different from those of its models. Its leaders did everything they
could to solve these problems,but their efforts did not win sufficientsupport
or understanding from the authorities of the time. Perhaps the greatest
achievement was the opming of the regional schools.
Since 1971, although the L a w on Education had not then come fully
into force, the National School of Music has been drawing up plans and
68
projects which will serve later as models for other institutions providing a
training in the arts.
The school offers vocational options in creative music (composition),
performance (vocal and instrumental performers and conductors of orches-
tras and choirs) and research.
A n experimental ‘folk-songworkshop’ has been set up as a centre for
the technical and practical further training of composers and performers
of folk music.
The regional schools of music initially received technical support and
guidance from the National Conservatory of Music. However, in about 1960,
support for the musical development of the schools was discontinued, and
the situation deteriorated until 1973, when they were converted into
executive bodies, responsible for providing training in the branches of art
covered by the National Institute of Culture.
Until 1973 these schools had no official curriculum, and every school
planned its own courses. Only practical courses were given in the various
subjects, with two theoretical courses, in musical theory and tonic sol-fa.
Although conditions were so bad, the regional schools often worked out
ingenious solutions to their problems. For example, they m a d e their own
instruments,taught their pupils two or more instruments, etc.
In the schools of music, as in those of ballet, there are junior training
sections designed to give a grounding in music to children between the ages
of 7 and 15.
EDUCATIONAL REFORM
A N D TRAINING IN THE ARTS
Since art education is an integral part of the Peruvian educational system,

its objectives must be compatible with those of the system and attuned to
the spirit of educational reform, which is perhaps the most important and
ambitious of the reforms now under way.
Firstly, a new kind of training in art is needed, based on an education
conducive to the development of a critical,creative and liberating awareness.
The aims of a training in the arts, starting with the initiation of reform,
include the following:
To develop critical ability in the creative arts, so as to achieve new forms
of individual and group artistic expression which will be conducive to
the assertion of the national identity and the cultural transformation
of the country.
To provide vocational training in the arts which will enable students to
work in the special fields corresponding to the various activities
necessary for national development.
T o consolidate and broaden the training acquired in the humanities, science
and technology at the lower levels.
To encourage research in art, science and technology,taking the economic,
social and cultural situation of the country as a starting-point.
69
To encourage the public to participate, and hence to achieve cultural

integration, so that its genuine need for artistic expression m a y be
satisfied.
T o generate awareness of the artistic identity of Peru, through under-
standing of our position as a pluricultural and multilingual country.
T o reinstate and promulgate the artistic heritage and the spiritual legacy
of the Peruvian people.
T o give impetus to the artistic activities of the Peruvian people as an
expression of their national identity, and to promote such activities on
a national and international scale.
The attainment of these objectives will require a tremendous effort on the
part of the National Institute of Culture. The teachers and administrative
staff now employed must be assessed as to standards, trained and given
refresher courses. Effective steps must also be taken to provide the infra-
structure and educational materials needed by all the art schools in the
country, and for this purpose it will be necessary to have recourse to inter-
national bodies. Likewise, in the light of the demand for educational ser-
vices in Peru, new institutions to provide training in art must be set up,
and those which do not meet the requirements of their areas must be
relocated. Furthermore, syllabi will have to be restructured so as to meet
the requirements of the new objectives.
There are grounds for hope that the change of outlook which will come
about in the schools will give a stronger impetus to production activities
leading to their becoming self-sufficient and self-financing.Moreover, the
detection in advance of the various professional options available, through
a diagnosis of the situation, will make available technical data on the
vocational opportunities arising in each region, in accordance with the plans
for the development of the country.
70
[B.12]CC.77/XIX.42/A

Cultural Policy in Peru

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Cultural Policy in Peru

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Cultural policy

Prepared by the National Institute of Culture

1. Speech by the Peruvian Minister of Education, General R a m ó n Miranda Ampuero, at

countries of the world cultural organizations carrying on closely related

In cultural matters, Peru, like most countries in our subcontinent,has

Peruvian society is built upon a succession of native cultures;well before

ERRONEOUS IDEAS ABOUT CULTURAL LIFE

Not always unconsciously, traditional governments, foreign and national

The revolutionary idea of culture

W h e n the Peruvian Revolution was launched, it became more urgent-and

providing conditions which will enable Peruvian m e n and women to

Basic principles of a revolutionary cultural policy

A society with the characteristics proclaimed by the Peruvian Revolution,

will enable us to study, systematize and apply the beneficial discoveries of

Since the aim of a humanistic-revolutionary cultural policy is to replace

So, in the stage of revolutionary transition towards a social democracy

DEVELOPMENT OF A CRITICAL AWARENESS

The revolutionary principles underlying a cultural policy can only be given

The decolonisation of culture leads to a true cultural democracy. A revol-

In a national movement such as that taking place in Peru, the cultural

Distribution of roles in cultural action

ROLE OF THE STATE

Emancipating role of the State’s action

Until the h a 1 objective of cultural socialization is attained, the State

Responsibility of public bodies

The emancipating task of the State-the promotion of the cultural life of

T h e mass communication media, especially the socialized press, radio and

ROLE OF THE COMMUNITY

Fundamentally, revolutionary cultural development, though launched,

they do is to seek, more or less successfully, support for a specific project

RECONSIDERATION OF THE ROLE

T h e participation of intellectuals is essential to the process of cultural

Constant components of cultural action

RESEARCH INTO THE CULTURAL SITUATION

If we are to build a democratic society, based on full participation, there

creative cultural activities are carried on permanently and creative artists

PROJECTION OF THE CULTURAL IMAGE

Stress must be laid on the fundamental importance of projecting the

ological, historical and aesthetic values should not be sacrificed to facile

The General Directorate includes advisory bodies, the chief of these

Aims, objectives and responsibilities

According to Article 5 of the statutes of the institute, its aims are as

To promote and organize international cultural exchanges.

If we agree that culture m a y be defined as ‘all the active and dynamic

research occupied a t e a m in compiling data for three years; the outcome is

OBJECTIVE: THE PEOPLE AT LARGE

In cultural activities-for which there are six artistic groups, a publishing

CENTRALIZATION VERSUS NATIONAL N E E D S

Because of the socio-economic structure of the country, cultural dissemi-

The Technical Directorate of Cultural Activities welcomes (and assesses)

THE EXECUTIVE BODIES

National Symphony Orchestra

soloists w h o have performed with it, and, especially, in the numbers of

National People’s Theatre

The National Dance Group consists of thirty-eight dancers, and performs

Modern Chamber Ballet

T h e group is prepared to travel and to perform in any place whatsoever,

The National Folklore Association

Although a publishing tradition undoubtedly exists in the country, there

National Anthropology and Archaeology Museum, the National Museum

The Entertainment Ofice

Conservation of national monuments

cultural heritage, the complement or crown of our knowledge of our past.

Chimu. Church with highly