Dynastic History | Casa Concha — The Palace Ground Where the Machu Picchu Collection Came Back

On 11 February 2011 the Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco and Yale University signed an agreement creating a joint centre for the study of Machu Picchu, and put it in Casa Concha: a mansion of 1710 raised on Pukamarka, ground associated with the compound of Thupa Inka Yupanki, son of Pachakuti. The Inca courses are still in the street wall at pavement level, under the plaster.

What the agreement settled had been open for a century. Hiram Bingham's Yale expeditions of 1911 to 1915 worked at Machu Picchu under Peruvian permits. A decree of 31 October 1912 allowed the excavation and reserved Peru's right to ask for unique pieces back; a decree of 17 January 1916 authorised the export of the third expedition's material while calling it the national property of Peru, against an undertaking to return it. Peru asked in 1918 and again in 1920. Some objects came back in 1921 and the rest stayed at Yale's Peabody Museum. Peru asked again in 2001, and sued in December 2008. A memorandum of understanding followed on 23 November 2010.

The material travelled home in three consignments, in March 2011, December 2011 and November 2012. It is held now by the university, and the Museo Machupicchu occupies the ground floor of the house. Yale retains a loan arrangement covering a small number of pieces.

The building had served for years as a police station before the state transferred it to the university in 2001.

📸 Cover: The street front of Casa Concha, with the Museo Machupicchu sign and the Inca courses at pavement level, Codas, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons