A Guide To Ayacucho

In 1539, Francisco Pizarro founded a city he named San Juan de la Frontera at Huamanga, a tambo (shelter) on the main Inca Highway joining Cusco with Quito.

Throughout Colonial times the city was known as Huamanga, becoming Ayacucho (Quechua for ‘corner of the dead’) in honour of a decisive battle of independence fought in nearby Quinua in 1824. 

Ayacucho (or Huamanga, as it was then) was a successful Colonial city owing to its temperate altitude of 2,750 m (9,023 ft), pleasant climate and fertile surroundings.

This is reflected in the establishment of Huamanga University in 1677, numerous imposing old buildings in the city centre … and abundant Colonial churches. Locals claim there are 33 of them (one for each year of Christ’s life) leading to the nickname ‘the city of churches’.

Among the best known:

• The 17th century twin-towered Cathedral, in the Plaza de Armas (locally called the Plaza Mayor), with a simple facade, but a wonderfully rich interior containing 10 gold-leaf altars, an ornate wooden pulpit and a religious art museum. 

• Also in the main square is Iglesia Santo Domingo, a 16th century edifice famed for its three arches where the Spanish Inquisition supposedly hung heretics. Inside, the gold-leaf altar shows Andean influence in the form of decorative hummingbirds and a face said to be an Inca.

• The Jesuit Templo de la Compañía, begun in the early 17th century and added to several times. It once housed a school teaching Latin and the arts to indigenous children, and it has a fine collection of Colonial paintings. 

• La Iglesia de San Francisco de Asís, opposite the market, is one of Ayacucho’s oldest churches and has the city’s largest church bell.

• Older still is Iglesia y Monasterio de Santa Clara, famed for its delicately carved wooden ceiling with Moorish influence. 

• Iglesia Santa Teresa is located on a small square, and boasts an incredibly ornamental gold-plated main altar in churrigueresque style. Santa Teresa is also a Carmelite nunnery, and the sisters sell home-made sweets. 

• Opposite, across the small plaza, is the frequently-closed little Iglesia San Cristóbal, Ayacucho’s oldest church and one of the oldest on the continent.

These churches really come to life during Semana Santa (Easter Week). Throughout Peru, the week is marked with religious processions, but none are as fervent or spectacular as those of Ayacucho. 

Heavy crucifixes or statues of Virgins and Saints are paraded around, often held up on huge, ornamental stands which require dozens of people to hold aloft. These processions trample over glorious carpets of flower petals, artistically arranged into beautiful designs and religious imagery. 

The Catholic ceremonies have somewhat of a pagan undertone, with fireworks, costumes, music, bull fights, and fairs included among the candlelit processions, masses, and piety.

Highlights of the Ayacucho activities are a candlelit procession on Good Friday, during which the lights of the city are turned off; running of the bulls on Holy Saturday; and the Easter Sunday dawn emergence of Christ from the Cathedral atop a pyramid of thousands of candles.

Museums in Ayacucho:

• The Popular Art Museum, on the north side of the Plaza Mayor, has a superb display of retablos, ranging from old, religious, traditional ones to modern examples with political commentary. Local silverwork, stone churches, carpets and other crafts can be inspected in this 18th century mansion, now part of a bank.

• The Prefectura (Portal Constitución), on the west side, has a pretty ground-floor courtyard, beautiful 18th-Century tile work and a cell which once held local revolutionary heroine, María Parado de Bellido, prior to her execution in 1822. Like many of Ayacucho's old mansions, this is now a government office, but can be visited, usually during business hours.

• About a mile from the Plaza is the small Hipolito Unanue Archaeological Museum exhibiting mainly local Wari artefacts, set within a cactus garden.

• Andrés Avelino Cáceres Museum is housed in the 17th-century Casa Vivanco, and named after an Ayacucheño marshal who fought Chile in the War of the Pacific (1879-83), and whose success earned him the nickname ‘The Devil of the Andes’. On display are military maps and paraphernalia, as well as Colonial and Republican furniture and art.

Handicrafts in Ayacucho

• Three blocks from the Main Square is Shosaku Nagase Artisans Market.  

• About a mile (1.6 km) uphill and south of the centre is the Santa Ana District, famed for its artisans’ workshops.
  
  It is centred on Plazuela de Santa Ana, which is surrounded by galleries displaying and selling weavings, stone carvings and retablos. 

Ayacucho since Independence

Ayacucho’s post-Colonial history is less distinguished. Largely ignored by central government, the region became one of the most impoverished in Peru: departmental statistics for 1981 showed there were only 44 km (28 miles) of paved roads outside the city; and that less than 15% of the population had electricity and running water. 

It was in this environment that the Shining Path arose and expanded in the 1970s and 80s, devastating the limited infrastructure and forcing many people to migrate to Lima and other parts of Peru.

Sights Around Ayacucho

Wari, the vast ruins of the capital of the Wari Civilisation, lies 22 km (14 miles) north of Ayacucho, along the road to Quinua. There is a small on-site museum, but compared to other Peruvian sites of this size and importance, Wari is little-visited.

From Wari, continue to Quinua, a pretty, cobble-stoned, red-tiled village 37 km (21 miles) northeast of Ayacucho at an elevation of 3,300 m (10,827 ft). It is famed both for its miniature churches carved from the local stone and used as roof-top ornaments.

Nearby is the scene of The Battle of Ayacucho, which was fought on Dec. 9, 1824, bringing an end to Spanish rule.

A 44 m (144-ft) high white obelisk, visible from far around, marks the Pampa de Ayacucho battlefield, and is carved with scenes from the historic event.

Quinua has a small museum with military exhibits, and several crafts stores.

Also of interest is Vilcashuamán, an Inca site 120 km (75 miles) southeast of Ayacucho. The site has a five-stepped usnu (pyramid) and a Temple of the Sun, with some high quality Inca stonework. Unfortunately, the current village has been built atop most of the Inca buildings.

Within an hour’s walk (in different directions) are thermal springs, a Puya raimondii forest, and another ruin.

A natural wonder is to be found a 3-hour drive away from the city: Millpu Canyon has 20 naturally-formed pools of sparkling, turquoise, glacial water, as well as spectacular waterfalls. It is a long day-trip from Ayacucho, going over 4,000m (13,000 ft) in altitude, but one is rewarded with remarkable scenery and a glimpse of timeless Andean rural life.

What our clients say about Ayacucho:

How to visit Ayacucho

Since peace returned to the area in the 1990s, more travellers have begun to visit what is the most Colonial of the highland Peruvian towns, and which has been the scene of some of the most significant events in the country’s past.

They are rewarded with impressive architecture, compelling history, traditional crafts, delicious regional food and welcoming locals.

The bus journey from Lima takes around 10 hours; while it is 12 hours by bus from Cusco. Alternatively, there are daily flights from/to Lima with LATAM and Sky Airlines, that take just an hour.

Ask us to put together an Ayacucho itinerary for you, to make the most of this emerging gem.