The Ministry of Culture (Spanish: Ministerio de Cultura, MINCUL) is the government ministry of Peru in charge of the promotion of Peruvian culture and identity. It was created on 20 July 2010, during the Second presidency of Alan García. It replaced the National Institute of Culture (Spanish: Instituto Nacional de Cultura, INC), with Juan Ossio Acuña serving as its inaugural minister after his appointment on 4 September 2010.

As of 2025^[update], the culture minister is Fabricio Valencia [es]

The House of Culture of Peru (Spanish: Casa de la Cultura del Perú) was created under the government of Ricardo Pérez Godoy in 1962. The following year, Supreme Decree 48 established its headquarters at the Casa de Pilatos, in the historic centre of Lima, which were inaugurated on 24 July after being restored by architect Héctor Velarde Bergmann [es].

The same year, president Nicolás Lindley López created the National Commission of Culture (Spanish: Comisión Nacional de Cultura, CNC), which was overseen and directed by the head of the House of Culture. In 1965, the CNC was dissolved and the National System for the Promotion of Culture (Spanish: Sistema Nacional de Fomento de la Cultura) was created to absorb all cultural institutions of the Peruvian State, being composed of the Consejo Superior de Fomento de la Cultura, the Casa de la Cultura del Perú, and the houses of culture for each department. The first was formed by the minister of education, a number of cultural directors (those of the National Archive, the National Library, the House of Culture, the National Conservatory of Music, and the National Superior Autonomous School of Fine Arts), and delegates from universities.

All state museums, the National Symphony Orchestra, the National Archaeology Board, and the National Theatre were directly dependent on the House of Culture of Peru, which also had an important bibliography, including the Cultura y pueblo magazine (1964–1970), the Revista peruana de cultura (Lima, 1963–1970), and the Boletín informativo de la Casa de la Cultura del Perú (1964–1969).

The National Institute of Culture (Spanish: Instituto Nacional de Cultura) was created on 9 March 1971, by the Revolutionary Government as a decentralized public body of the education sector through Supreme Decree 18799, replacing the House of Culture of Peru. The INC's functions were to formulate and execute the policies and strategies of the state in regards to cultural development, cultural conservation, and the diffusion and investigation of affairs related to the country's cultural heritage. The Regulations of the Organization and Functions of the INC were defined by Supreme Decree 027-2001-ED of 20 April 2001.

The INC continued to be based at its predecessor's headquarters until 1996, when it was replaced by the Constitutional Court of Peru. Due to this, it moved to San Borja District, next to the Museo de la Nación. It had a theatre called the National Theatre of the INC, which was renamed the Grand National Theatre of Peru in 2011. It also published the report Política cultural del Perú, which was printed by UNESCO.

In 1992, the Fund for Culture and the Arts was created by the institute. In 1998, minister Domingo Palermo [es] announced that the INC would become the National Institute of Cultural Heritage (Spanish: Instituto Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural), but this never came to pass.