In the Providence Public Library, a new exhibit is showcasing pre-Hispanic Peruvian artifacts in celebration of the 200th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the United States and Peru.
“Echoes of the Andes” opened at the library this July in collaboration with the Andean Cultural Center of Rhode Island and the Peruvian Consulate in Hartford, Connecticut.
The exhibit marks the start of the celebration of the diplomatic relationship between Peru and the United States, according to Adriana Ayala, exhibit curator and the vice consul of Hartford’s Peruvian Consulate. Diplomatic ties between the two countries began in 1826, when the U.S. recognized Peru’s independence from Spain.
The exhibit features 35 artifacts, including ceramic pieces from the Chancay, Nasca and Huaura cultures, each of which were verified by Peru’s Ministry of Culture as original works, Ayala told The Herald.
The Consulate first came into contact with the artifacts earlier this year through María Fernanda Mancera, assistant curator of Indigenous art at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum.
“In January of 2025, a woman named Liselotte Bjorck reached out to the RISD Museum to ask whether we would be interested in accepting a donation of pre-Hispanic ceramics from what is now present-day Peru,” Mancera wrote in an email to The Herald.
The Bjorck family did not respond to a request for comment.
Mancera explained that Bjorck collected these artifacts while living in Peru as a child. The RISD Museum is “committed to repatriation of cultural belongings, so I reached out to Liselotte and let her know that we could not receive them, but that I could support her in connecting with the Peruvian consulate,” Mancera wrote.
The consulate then worked with Betty Bernal, vice chair of the Andean Cultural Center, to find the optimal location for an exhibition. Bernal described her role in the exhibition as “more of the connector than working with the content of the actual exhibit.”
The exhibit also features textiles “mostly made by women, and they show the crucial role women played in ancient Peru,” Ayala said.
The last display in the exhibition features a textile enclosed in a wooden frame. Ayala explained that they made the choice to keep it in the frame “to show the audience that these artifacts belonged to a family.”
Through the various artifacts, Ayala hopes to shed light on cultures that came before the Inca Empire.
“When we talk about Peru, most people think about just Machu Picchu and Incas, but I wanted to show them that before Incas … there were other cultures that were so important,” she said. “They were a mix of smaller cultures that became the Incan Empire as we know it today.”
Ayala encourages visitors to consider the artifacts’ history and impact beyond culture. “Diplomacy can protect culture, culture can preserve art and art can heal memories,” she said.
“Echoes of the Andes” will be on display in the PPL’s Rhode Island Room through July 24, 2026.
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