The Tribunal of the Holy Office was established in Lima in 1569, part of the Spanish Crown's apparatus for enforcing religious orthodoxy across its American colonies. From this building in Barrios Altos, the tribunal interrogated, tried, and punished those accused of heresy, crypto-Judaism, witchcraft, and other offenses against Catholic doctrine. Over its 251-year existence, the Inquisition processed 1,474 people. Thirty-two of them were executed. Opposition to torture did not become prevalent in Lima until after the seventeenth century; before that, the tribunal's public proceedings -- the autos-da-fe -- drew crowds. The institution endured until 1820, when the Trienio Liberal in Spain abolished the Inquisition across the empire. Just one year later, Jose de San Martin proclaimed Peru's independence in Lima. The building had outlived its original purpose by exactly twelve months.

After the Inquisition's abolition, the building entered a quieter phase. For over a century it served various civic functions, including housing the Public Library of the Chamber of Deputies starting in 1943. On July 26, 1968, the museum was inaugurated, transforming the former tribunal headquarters into a space dedicated to two intertwined narratives: the history of the Inquisition and the history of Peru's Congress. The location is no accident. The Plaza Bolivar, just outside, is named for the liberator Simon Bolivar, and the Legislative Palace of Peru stands nearby. The museum occupies a physical and symbolic junction between colonial authority and republican governance, between the power to condemn and the power to legislate.

Before its closure for restoration, the Museum of Congress and the Inquisition was the most visited museum in Lima. Visitors came to see the reconstructed tribunal chambers, the instruments of interrogation, and the archives documenting centuries of congressional debate. The contrast between the two collections -- the records of religious persecution displayed alongside the proceedings of democratic government -- gave the museum a narrative tension that few institutions anywhere can match. A restoration project valued at 13 million soles was announced in 2023, drawing criticism for its cost. Congress defended the expenditure, arguing that the building's historical significance warranted the investment. The museum sits in Lima's historic center, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where colonial-era buildings line streets that have witnessed the full arc of Peruvian history -- from Inquisition to independence to the messy, ongoing work of self-governance.