Imagine being in a place where excavation frequently leads to archeological discoveries. Consider that this region resembles a vast archeological site, continuously inhabited by diverse cultures for over 5,000 years. In such a context, construction plays a pivotal role—perpetually evolving through encounters with history.
If every construction site can be seen as a curatorial site, this presents a fundamental challenge for curatorial practice. Museums are typically imagined as spaces of preservation—institutions that safeguard heritage. But what happens when the act of building a museum becomes an act of destruction? What does it mean to construct atop an archeological site?
This research explores case studies across Lima, tracing how museums and other cultural institutions have historically emerged through—and often at the expense of—material heritage. A key example is the National Museum of Peru (MUNA), proposed in 2014 and built within the Pachacamac Archeological Sanctuary. Framed as a flagship of national heritage preservation, MUNA also reveals how archeology has become instrumentalized to serve broader economic and political agendas. Its construction—legally and symbolically justified—raises questions about the redefinition of archeological sites as zones of projection rather than protected terrain.
Through these case studies, with MUNA as a central lens, this research examines how curatorial, archeological, and construction practices intersect in construction sites—as spaces of power, destruction, economic leverage, and political influence. What is the role of a curator in a context where museums are built atop ruins? And how might we reimagine heritage in places where construction not only reveals history, but also reshapes it?