Cachi Archaeological Museum

Explore the culture of the local ancestors

Right in front of the 9 de Julio square, in a colonial style mansion from the end of the XIX century, with pointed arches upwards, opens its doors the museum created on the collection of its founder, Pío Pablo Díaz. 

I decided to visit it, without much expectation, while we made a timelapse of Cachi's blue sky above the San José church.

The symbolic ticket paid for at the entrance returns the promise of a visit that allows to admire the architecture of the complex, the ancestral traces and the objects of extreme beauty and delicacy. How much I was amazed by the treasure kept there! The whole tour was in absolute solitude, while the square exploded with tourists.

Its patrimony consists of archaeological material from the Calchaquí Valleys, of a formidable value that helps to interpret the pre-Hispanic culture.

The rooms unfold around the typical patio, where objects with a particular molding work are also exhibited. The cane and mud roofs, the adobe walls, the clay floors... it is not only the relics of the interior that stand out. The instruments that were used by archaeologists in their scientific research also stand out. 

In addition, petroglyphs with the most delicate silhouettes and traces of extreme sensitivity, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures of the Calchaquí civilization. Ornamented vessels, utensils, pieces of weapons and -even- beautiful jewelry to adorn the necks of the natives.

The visit that I estimated would not last more than a few minutes was extended, although not too much, because it was time for lunch and the unmissable meat empanadas with paprika dough from the Hostería del Automóvil Club Argentino awaited me.