Museum of art of Lima (MALI) is one of the leading museums of Peru. It is located on Paseo colon, in front of the Museum of Italian art, in the district of Cercado de Lima. Its total exhibition area of 4500 square meters, including permanent and temporary exhibition halls.

The Museum was opened in 1959 on the initiative of a group of patrons. This civic Association was established in 1954 to promote the development of contemporary culture and art in Peru. Metropolitan municipality gave them the use of the Exhibition building of the Palace, built for the international exhibition in 1872 on the site of the Expo Park. After the exhibition, the Palace became the headquarters of the society of fine arts of the country. Before the invasion of Chile, the building was used as a field hospital, and after it was used as barracks for Chilean troops until 1883, when it almost completely looted and destroyed.

A little restored the building in 1905 opened its doors to the National Museum of archaeology, anthropology and history. Also within its walls visited the Peru Ministry of development, the Chamber of deputies, the Ministry of agriculture, the Electoral court and, finally, the Metropolitan municipality of Lima. Over the years the building was restored several times. In March 1956, it was decided to hold the next reconstruction of the Palace under the leadership of Peruvian architects héctor Velarde and Jose Garcia Bryce and with the assistance of funding from France.

The first exhibition in the renovated Palace was held in 1957 under the auspices of the French culture and industry. In 1961, after the opening of the Museum of art, the President of Peru donated to the Museum collection, which began to collect his brother historian, philosopher and lawyer Javier and Prado Ugarteche.

Permanent exhibition of the Museum offers its visitors to explore the nine exhibition halls with exhibits from the pre-Columbian period to the present time. The exhibition includes works of art of culture of the Incas, Moche, Nazca, wikus. This collection consists of ceramics, textiles and gold and silver that were found in Peru. You can also see works by Peruvian artists of the XIX century: josé Gil de Castro, Ignacio Merino, Francisco Lazo and Luis Montero, representing the pictures of a historical nature, reflecting the Peruvian reality of those years.

Exhibition hall of the twentieth century includes paintings by Peruvian artists such as Teofilo Castillo, Jose Sabogal, Mario Urteaga Alvarado and Ricardo Grau, paintings by students of the National school of fine arts and movement autochthonism, which flourished in the first decades of the twentieth century. Hall of modern art includes artistic works Dating back to 1940, representing the Peruvian artist Fernando de Sislo, Gerardo Chavez and others, demonstrating the artistic trends of the last decades in Peru in the late XX and early XXI century.

Since 1986, the Art Museum of Lima opened the library of books about art, architecture, crafts, photography and museology. Currently the library has over 10,000 volumes, 620 names of Peruvian and foreign journals, a large collection of slides, videos and other multimedia publications.

Since 1996 the building of the Museum began its work Archive of Peruvian art (AAP). Today it contains data about 2500 artists Peru and 500 themed "portfolios" in artistic and cultural activities at the national level. The Museum also organizes courses and seminars for the General public. The art Museum also offers the possibility of professional training of teachers in the field of art.