This museum, once the regional archaeological showcase, is now overshadowed by the Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipán, but it still houses an excellent collection of artifacts from the Inca, Chimú, Moche, Lambayeque, Vicus and Chavín cultures, amassed by Hans Heinrich Brüning, after whom the museum is named. It is a good place to get an overview of the different groups that have inhabited the region.
There are some excellent gold pieces and budding archaeologists will enjoy the displays showing the development of ceramics from different cultures and the exhibits explaining how ceramics and metalwork were made. Architecture and sculpture lovers may find some interest in the Corbusier-inspired building. Models of several important sites are genuinely valuable as a way to put the archaeology of the region into perspective.
The museum also houses a fascinating new exhibit dedicated to the tomb of the Sacredotisa de Chornancap, a Sicán noblewoman and governor whose burial spot loaded with intricate gold and silver artifacts was discovered in 2011 at the Chotuna-Chornancap site near the town of San José. The richly decorated tomb has given researchers new insights into gender equality in Lambeyeque society.
English-speaking guides charge S30.