I'll be in Peru soon - a full day plus [Added in edit: no; my mistake] two half days in Cusco before hiking starts, then a 12-hour (more or less) layover in Lima on the way home. I'd like to see some real quipu* and hopefully shoot a brief GoPro video of me with them for my college information systems classes and as supporting material for a book on the subject. Does anyone know where I can find some in either of those two cities that are open to the public and where photography (no flash) would be permitted?

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*An Inca record-keeping and calculation system based on tying knots in strings. The kinds of knots and arrangement of strings conveyed a great deal of information. Since the Inca language had ten consonant sounds and the numbers were in the decimal system, quipu could also be used to store text, but that got awkward beyond very small amounts.

I recall seeing this; I believe it was in Lima at the National Museum of Anthropology in Bolivar Square but it might also have been at a village we visited in Chinchero, near Cusco. You should also check the Museo Inka in Cusco.

Great ideas, thank you! I'll start with the Museo Inka because Cusco is first on my agenda. Some reviewers complain because it has no signs in English; here's hoping my Spanish is up to the task. We'll visit Chinchero two days later, so I'll be able to check that out if Cusco didn't meet the need, and Lima comes at the end of the trip with plenty of time to visit that museum if it's still necessary.

(By the way, I just re-checked the schedule. Only two half-days in Cusco before things start up; I stuck in an extra day before. Wishful thinking, perhaps. Still ought to be enough to find quipu, if quipu are to be found.)

I exactly thought in both places, too. But not sure if non-flash photos are allowed. I remember seen a quipu in a (museum) dark room, but can't remember which museum was.

A quick search on Flickr suggests that people have taken photos of quipu in the Museo Inka in Cusco and the Museo Larco in Lima, among other places (including a museum in Madrid, which I'd love to visit but isn't in the cards for this trip). Nothing says if they were allowed to take the photos or just got away with it. I could probably do that - a GoPro is unobtrusive, silent, and its "Recording" light is small - but I'd rather not*. Guess I'll find out soon!

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*If that was my intent, I wouldn't post it in a public forum anyhow.

I have taken photos at Larco Herrera Museum, it is allowed. Though can't remember there was a quipu there. Probably there is.

Found something online: http://www.museolarco.org/catalogo/ficha.php?id=20039

They should have it!

There is a museum of pre-Colombian textiles in Miraflores.

http://eng.museoamano.org/

I've not visited Amano museum yet. Silly me cause everybody told me IT IS A MUST.