To obtain a cooling device, along with an image display apparatus, capable of reducing stagnation in the circulation of a working liquid.

The cooling device includes: a cooling block; a heat pipe in which the working liquid is enclosed, and whose external wall is configured such that one end thereof is connected to a heat source and the other is connected to the cooling block; a plurality of Peltier element units arranged along the longitudinal direction of the heat pipe so as to cool the heat pipe through the cooling block; and a control unit configured to control the plurality of the Peltier element units such that, according to the amount of heat transfer from the heat source of the heat pipe to the cooling block, the plurality of the Peltier element units are to be driven in order from the unit closest to the heat source.