Ethnography Museum (Museo Nacional de Etnografía y Folklore - MUSEF)

The MUSEF carries out its activities in the former palace of the Marquises of Villaverde. The architectural structure was built in 1730, has a typical colonial style and stands out for its courtyards with stone arches and its central semicircular triumphal arch, with a heraldic shield sculpted in stone. This magnificent building is located in the historic center of La Paz, between Ingavi and Jenaro Sanjinés streets. Due to its colonial civil architecture, it was declared a National Monument in 1930.

In 1948, through Supreme Decree No. 1055 of President Enrique Hertzog, the purchase of the property, then owned by Mr. Humberto Peinado, was authorized for the Ministry of Education, Fine Arts and Indigenous Affairs. In 1962, its premises were made available for the Museum of Popular Art and Crafts, now MUSEF.

Between 1998 and 1999, when it was already part of the Cultural Foundation of the Central Bank of Bolivia, the MUSEF expanded its facilities to adjacent premises, specifically the Guidi house and the Fondo Complementario Petrolero building. In 2001, the expansion of the contemporary building, designed by architect Carlos Villagómez, began and was inaugurated in 2004. In this year, a branch of the museum was also opened in the Argandoña house in the city of Sucre.