P. Le Paige museum, San Pedro de Atacama

The Priest Gustavo Le Paige, of Belgian origin, was the founder of this museum, who in 1955 establishes himself in San Pedro de Atacama and there it was when he began his interest for the study of the past.
The Father Le Paige began to cross the places inhabited by the "Atameños" , where little by little he began to gather archaeological material of incalculable value that today is showed in the museum of San Pedro de Atacama since the year 1957.
The museum is a place that it is necessary to visit because you will find the whole history of the village across of the mummies and the articles that the aborigens were using.
This museum possesses a collection of approximately 380.000 pieces.
Open Monday to Friday since 9:00 to 12:00 and of 14:00 to 18:00.
Weekends: 10:00 a 12:00 y 14:00 a 18:00.
The entrance costs 3-4 dollars aprox.

The highlight of the San Pedro archaeological museum is the aymara mummy nicknamed Miss Chile after her very beautiful -when alive- physical features.
This mummy was found by P. Le Paige near San Pedro in 1967, and her estimated age is about 2800 to 3100 years (this is, 800 to 1100 B.C.); she's believed to have been about 16 to 19 years old at her date of death .
Some controversy arose about this mummy some years ago, since some aymara locals complained officially that their ancestors couldn't be exhibited to the public, forcing the hiding of the mummy in a warehouse for a while and leaving her crystal enclosure empty. This was later settled, but nothing guarantees that the remains wouldn't be hidden again.

Photo taken in September 1990. Praktica Super TL3, Zeiss Flektogon 35 mm., f. 11, 1/2 sec., Kodak Ektachrome 64 slide film

Back in the early 70’s, Belgian priest Gustave Le Paige –commissioned in San Pedro by his congregation, and dead in 1980- began to excavate and explore the many archaeological sites in the area, gathering a large collection of pottery, woven items, artefacts and, of course, mummies.
He wasn’t a professional archaeologist (oh yes, he was the great pretender...), so he was widely criticised by the professional ones who argued that, in his relative ignorance, he destroyed rather than studied the sites, and even compared him with the huaqueros (tomb raiders), although his intention was not that of those.
Despite all this, a museum was built for his collection by the Universidad del Norte, and his work is quite respected among the local people.
Visiting the museum is a good chance to see good reconstructions of ancient tombs and sites, as well as ancient textile exhibitions and mummies (see the next recommendation).
Photography is allowed, but without using flash or artificial lights.
Entry fee is $ 1500 (US$ 2,5).

Photo taken in September 1990. Praktica Super TL3, Zeiss Flektogon 35 mm., f.5,6, 1/8 sec., Kodak Ektachrome 64 slide film