Casa del Alabado Museum of Pre-Columbian Art

The Casa del Alabado is a private museum of pre-Columbian art set in a restored colonial house near the San Francisco plaza in Quito. Its collection presents thousands of ceramic, stone and metal objects from ancient Ecuadorian cultures, arranged around themes of life, death and the spiritual world rather than strict chronology. The whitewashed rooms and courtyard of the seventeenth-century building provide an intimate setting for the pieces. The thoughtful presentation makes it a well-regarded introduction to the region's indigenous heritage.