TRAVEL AND TOURS

Its Bell towers rise to the sky and its streets, climbing melancholically lead to beautiful vice-Royalty churches, lasting symbols of the unbreakable faith of the people of Ayacucho. It is a city of gossip and nostalgia, which brings tears to the eyes in holy week or at the sound of the voices of its singers, drunk on loneliness and love.

Surrounded by prickly pears and blessed with a temperate and healthy climate, Ayacucho, capital of the state of the same name, is one of the most important tourist destinations in the Peuvian Andes because it combines the remains of primitive cultures with the majesty of its colonial buildings.

Known as the city of 37 churches, Ayacucho was founded on April 25, 1540 by the name of Huamanga but vestiges of human settlements more than 15,000 years old have been found nearby. Furthermore between the VI and XII centuries the first structured nation of the Andean world emerged in these lands: the Wari Culture.

And it was in the Pampa de la Quinua, 32 kms. away from Ayacucho, that Simon Bolivar's troops sealed the independence of a continent, defeating the Spanish army in the glorious battle of Ayacucho which took place on December 9, 1824.

The past and the present are found in an Andean city 570 kms. from Lima, and 2,761 metres above sea level. Ayacucho - land of singers and famous artisans, of churches and ancient mansions, - will leave its mark of liberty and melancholy on the heart of all those who walk its streets or contemplate its many bell towers.

ATTRACTIONS

The streets of Ayacucho, have so many churches that they help banish the tiredness and difficulties of altitude. The beauty of each church sparks a desire in you to keep walking and discover the charms of the next, to hear the whispered prayers of the faithful within it, and maybe even to bend down and prostrate in front of a divine and forgiving saint.

Walking in the City

Churches:
The oldest churches in the city were built in the XVI century, when the first religious orders arrived.. These churches combine Spanish, Latin and Moorish elements, embellished with indigenous details such as stones carved with local flora and fauna motifs. While in Ayacucho you shouldn't miss visiting the cathedral with its Baroque Renaissance facade, San Agustin in Renascentist style, Santo Domingo in Mudejar style, San Francisco de Paula with one of the most beautiful pulpits in Ayacucho and, La Compañía, built with only one nave and a baroque façade of pink and gray stone.

Colonial Mansions (Casonas):
Built by wealthy Spaniards who extracted mercury and silver from the mines in the neighboring department of Huancavelica, but set up home in Ayacucho due to its benign climate, the houses still maintain much of their old grandeur.