The most beautiful religious buildings Cusco Region

The convent was built above the Qoricancha, the gold district in Quechua, whose temple of the Sun occupied, in the feline configuration of the city, the sex. Embellished by Pachacútec, the temple, from the top of its promontory, dominated a series of terraced gardens whose upper platform served as a foundation for the various temples dedicated to the deities: Sun, Stars, Moon, Rainbow... In the middle stands, mute, a ceremonial fountain made of massive stone. The whole, embedded in the convent, is the most beautiful example of the building skills of the Incas. It is a pity that the church built above it by the conquistadores has somewhat dulled the Inca work. But one cannot but be transported by the sober beauty of the temples of the Sun (Inti), of the Moon (Qilla) and of Venus (Chaska), daughter of the previous ones. The interior of all the temples was covered with gold leaf - silver for that of the Moon - and contained, it is assumed, the mummies of the wives and concubines of the sons of the Sun. The gardens were decorated with gold figurines that the conquistadores hastened to melt into ingots. Built immediately after the conquest, Santo Domingo was destroyed by the earthquakes of 1650 and 1950. It was during the latter earthquake that the fragments of the ancient temples were discovered. Of the church, the baroque bell tower from the 17th century is worth mentioning and, in the cloister, the pinacoteca with its colonial paintings.

It is the first stage south of Cusco of the Ruta del Barroco Andino which opened the doors of the churches of Huaro and its demonic frescoes (including The Last Judgment) and Canicunca. It is obviously the masterpiece. We strongly recommend a visit, because under this modest white temple hides a small marvel of colors, gildings and drawings intended to evangelize the local people. It is much more touching than the cold and pompous Cathedral of Cusco.

This small church, the oldest in Cusco, dates from 1536. It houses a priceless cedar pulpit, carved in a single piece, which took its creator, Diego Tomás de Cerda, twenty-five years of work. The work, purely baroque, is a firework display of swollen cherubs, chubby cherubs, grimacing monsters and climbing flora. The main altar, by Mateo Tuyro Túpac, and the beautifully carved balcony are also worth seeing. This small church on the Plaza San Blas is often neglected, wrongly so.

Begun in 1564, the cathedral was completed a century later. The pink volcanic stones of its façade were taken from the citadel of Saqsayhuamán. The sober Renaissance façade contrasts with the busy plateresque style of the interior. In the shape of a Latin cross, the building has a chapter house, three naves, a sacristy and no less than ten side chapels, all of which are adorned with carved cedar objects (gilded with gold leaf or embossed silver) and nearly 400 painted canvases. In the side chapels there is a stone altar and the nave where Inca Garcilaso de la Vega is buried. The name of one of the chapels (triumph) comes from the Virgen del Triunfo who would have saved the lives of 200 Spaniards during the siege of Cusco by Manco II.

The cathedral has a 17th century choir, whose cedar seats are true works of art. Here the styles clash but dazzle: rococo central altar of the Santísima Trinidad, Churrigueresque altarpieces, baroque pulpits... In the chapels, the profusion of paintings of the school of Cusco (Sinchi Roca, Marcos Zapata and Diego Quispe Tito) transforms the cathedral into a museum (note the painting entitled the Ultima Cena, where appears a cuy, symbol of syncretism). El Señor de los Temblores shows a Christ whose face is blackened by the smoke from the candles that burn constantly nearby. The centrepiece of the church is a 22-carat gold monstrance, 1.2 m high, weighed down with more than 2,000 precious stones and weighing 27 kg.

This is a church founded by the Franciscans in 1645, two facades and one steeple, in the purest colonial style: carved wooden chorus and chairs and chair impregnated with ivory. In the gallery, paintings of the most famous names of Cusco school (Quispe Tito, Santa Cruz, Sinchi Roca, Zapata) and the immense painting 12 m on 9 m, painted by Juan Espinoza de los Monteros and tracing the genealogy of the Franciscan'family ', are noted.

Dating from 1576, this church was built by the Jesuits, to overshadow the cathedral, on the site of the Amarukancha, the palace of Wayna Cápac. It is considered the finest achievement of colonial religious architecture in the Americas. Its baroque facade of carved stone is magnificent. With a single nave, topped by two bell towers, it houses a dome and a gilded altar, an underground chapel, crypts, secret passages and hidden stairways. From its bell tower, there is a superb view of the Plaza de Armas. We recommend.

The church is reached by climbing the hill through the narrow streets of San Blas. The Catholic temple is located on the remains of the Colcampanta palace, built during the reign of Pachacútec, of which a double wall with niches and a door can still be seen. Made of adobe, except for the 18th century stone bell tower, San Cristóbal lights up at night, watching over the Plaza de Armas. The square is a lookout point from which much of the city can be seen. The bell tower offers an even more impressive view, but only for those who have paid the boleto religioso.