archeological museum of father le paige

We really like how they showed the historical context of Le Paige as well as the settlers in the area. It is very friendly for kids and not expensive.

This museum has a very interesting and complete collection of pieces from the Atacameña culture. It has a very good explanation of every item so you can make an idea of the life style of that culture.

Living in Belgium we just had to see the museum containing the work of Father Le Paige. We watched the interesting video discussion on what to do with the mummies -they have been removed from the museum at the request of the indigenous locals. But the video also highlighted their beliefs as to the afterlife etc. Most of the presentations of the human movement & development within the San Pedro region have an English translation. A number of boxes containing artifacts have minimal descriptions - and this could be improved. Father Le Paige was not a bad painter either - one room contains his paintings.Two rooms are representations of his bedroom & office. An interesting hour or so can be spent in the museum while you await your next tour or meal.

This museum is dusty and tired. It is in urgent need of a revamp. There is a small entrance fee of 2500 CH. There are bilingual boards explaining the history of the area and a few stone and gold artefacts. There is a room showing some personal posessions. A small gift shop selling cards etc.The history you can get from a guidebook! Don't worry if you give it a miss!!!

Me and my boyfriend were rudely attended at the archeological museum in the center of San Pedro de Atacama. Besides answering our inquiries with a rude attitude, the oldwoman in the reception desk refused to accept my money to pay for the tickets. I had just withdrawn 20.000 pesos from the bank and she refused to accept. Before me, I saw a man pay for his family tickets with 10.000 pesos and I believe she had cash. It was friday, the 6th, February 2015. Terrible for the image of the museum, terrible example of hospitality and care for tourists.

If you want to learn a bit more about the Atacama region's development and settlement, this is the place to do it. Otherwise you can probably skip it and not miss much. Definitely educational and fairly priced for what you get to see.

I came for the mummies but they were not there anymore, because of respect for the dead. The museum shows a movie about taking the mummies away.The museum is very small and a lot of stuff is the same, some rocks, ancient tools etc. Also not everything is translated to english this makes it is less interesting..

The main attraction of the museum was Miss Chile, the mummy. Some self important, silly functionaries decreed that the mummy would not be displayed for "cultural reasons" saying that the display was disrespectful. What nonsense. The remainder of the museum is a mishmash of pottery, tools, weapons and textiles.

Paying a 1h visit to the archaeological museum is worth it. The museum displays artifacts from the ancient until the more modern times in the area of Atacama, it gives an interesting insight on how people were living in the area and how their culture evolved. I would not advise anybody to miss a tour/visit in the amazing nature in order to just visit the museum.

I confess that my biggest interest was to go and see the mummies. But they aren't there anymore!It's an interesting place to learn a bit more of their archaeological past, but it wasn't that impressive for me.

Nobody told me there's gold, but there is. There's gold in this tiny little museum. It's only a few bracelets and necklaces, but still, it's pretty impressive for a few thousand CLP. Additionally, the exhibits that are in English provide great insight to how life was before Spanish colonialism and for those that can read Spanish, information on the influence of the Tiwanaku and Inka states and the peaceful relationship with the local Atacameños and the influence on their art and technology. There are also some great paintings from the early 20th century that show the San Pedro area before mass tourism arrived. A must-see!

Good quantity and quality of English explanations. Covers the full period of human population from ~12000 years ago to present, but mainly focused on pre-Inca.

- Good overview over the history of the region- Having heard of a huge collection of artifacts by Father Le Paige, I would have expected more of them to be exhibited at the museum

For a regional museum this place is extremely well put together and very informative. A good place to visit first so that you can appreciate the region as you go round. Make sure you watch the video about why they don't exhibit mummies any more. Very interesting.

An important place to gain insight into the Atacama desert. San Pedro isn't that big a place, so the museum is a must see.