The small Museo Arqueológico Hipólito Unánue, set in the botanical garden of the Universidad, exhibits artifacts of the Wari, who were the rulers of these lands before the Inca conquest in the 15th century. Also featured are local finds of Chimú, Moche, Chavín, Ica, Nazca and other...
Named for Joaquín López Antay, one of Ayacucho’s great retablo artists, the Museo de Arte Popular features folk art from Ayacucho and surrounding villages. On display are textiles, filigreed silver, ceramics and, of course, retablos—multi-tiered sculptures of religious and...
Semana Santa, or Holy Week, Latin America’s most important religious holiday, begins on Palm Sunday and culminates on Easter Sunday. Ayacucho’s celebrations are amongst the most traditional. Spectacular processions are accentuated by flower-carpeted streets and ninatoros (bull...
A four-hour (110-kilometer) bus journey south of Ayacucho brings you to Vilcashuamán (meaning Sacred Falcon), the Incan provincial capital at the crossroads of their Cusco-Pacific and north-south highways. Notable ruins are a double-seated stone throne upon a five-tiered usnu (platform...
Complejo Arqueológico Wari sprawls along the highway from Ayacucho to Quinua. Five signed entrances lead to the ruins of this once-great Wari capital. You can yet see the thick walls towering 12 meters (39 feet), tunnels, underground burial chambers, ceremonial plazas and homes of its estimated...