Ayacucho

Ayacucho (founded as San Juan de la Frontera de Huamanga on April 25, 1540 and called Huamanga until February 15, 1825) is a Peruvian city, capital of the district of the same name, of the province of Huamanga and of the department of Ayacucho. It is located on the eastern slope of the Andes mountain range at an altitude of 2761 m a.s.l. no. m. and is characterized by a temperate and dry climate, with sunshine all year round.

It is one of the most notable architectural and artistic ensembles in Peru. It is known as the "City of Churches", for its numerous colonial temples, and as the "Manor City" for its architecture, tradition and art.

Portal Independencia.

The city is famous both nationally and internationally thanks to its handicrafts, which is why it was declared the "Capital of Popular Art and Crafts of Peru". The alabaster carvings (material known in the area as Huamanga stone), the pottery -especially the bulls and churches of Quinua-, the filigree of the Santa Ana neighborhood and mainly the valued Ayacucho altarpieces stand out. In honor of this city Peruvian and the battle of independence that occurred on its soil, the Andean countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela, each refounded a city and renamed it 'Ayacucho'.

It is a city of very high Catholic fervor. It has more than thirty viceroyalty temples in Renaissance, Baroque and mestizo styles, which keep inside true works of art such as paintings, images and altarpieces carved in wood and bathed in bread gold. In addition, you can see colonial houses, archaeological remains and artistic manifestations that reveal a historical past and a tradition that is still valid and attractive.

Equally, it stands out for its music and its festivities, such as carnivals and especially Holy Week, both declared Cultural Heritage of the Nation. The latter is considered the second most important in the world, as far as the celebration of Holy Week is concerned.

Toponymy

Humanga

Waman qaqa is the Quechua word with which the site of the current city was known when the Spanish arrived. According to local tradition, the Inca Viracocha rested in this place during one of his campaigns and fed a falcon that perched on his shoulders from his hand. The Inca exclaimed: "Guaman ka", which means "take, hawk".

For its Spanish foundation, the first name the city received was «San Juan de la Frontera de Huamanga». «San Juan» in homage to Saint John the Evangelist and «frontera» for being on the military border and being a Spanish bulwark against the attacks of Manco Inca. During the civil wars Among the conquerors, the name was changed to "San Juan de la Victoria de Huamanga", due to the triumph of the armies loyal to the crown over the rebel forces of Diego de Almagro el Mozo, in the Battle of Chupas, on September 16, 1542.

Ayacucho

The original name of Huamanga was changed to Ayacucho by decree of the Liberator Simón Bolívar on February 15, 1825. The change was given as a tribute to the victory of the patriot army in the battle of Ayacucho.

The word Ayacucho derives from the Quechua words «aya» (dead) and «k'uchu» (dwelling-corner). Consequently, the word Ayacucho etymologically means «Corner of the dead», an expression that could result from a set of human remains that were found in this place, as a consequence of the battles that their first inhabitants, yearning to found a town due to its strategic location.

Gentilic and hypocoristic

The name of Huamanga is “huamanguino”, previously written “guamanguino”, as, for example, in the illustrations by Guaman Poma or on the coat of arms of the University San Cristobal de Huamanga.

Likewise, unlike the cities called Ayacucho in Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela (where the name is "ayacuchense"), the natives of the Peruvian city of Ayacucho are called "Ayacuchanos".

The chronicler Pedro Cieza de León in his work Crónica del Perú, wrote that in Huamanga there were many wild pigeons, which is why those regions were frequently visited by falcons (Falco peregrinus) , very fond of feeding on medium-sized birds such as ducks, hens, and chickens.

Traditionally, the hypocoristic of the Ayacuchanos or Huamanguinos is wallpa sua, "chicken thief".

... They say that when Huamanga was founded in the 16th century, many Spaniards of the different classes and stretch marks were settled in the city. In addition to people of abolengo, there were also other adventurers and unscrupulous people recruited from the peninsula. Over time these reached wealth and social position and some became part of the local aristocracy. It had become supposedly honorable people. [...] But there is a saying: "galline that eats eggs even if they burn the beak." For this caste of men, nothing could take away the mania from enjoying the others. [...] Among them, a Negro Ruiz said that stolen chicken knew more tasty and he himself takes care of thefts. This can be seen wallpa sua He died drowned as he fell into his own latrine chasing an athletic hen of the Toledo. Well, and as the bad example, the hen theft was thrown all over the colony and after it. [...] Since then, all of the Huamanguino bears the name of the unbeatable label of "ba chicken"..

Symbols

Shield

The coat of arms of Huamanga was granted by Felipe II in merit of the request directed in 1564 by Don Juan Pantiel de Salinas, XVI Corregidor of his town hall.

”...in the field of sugar on which a castle of gold is loaded, alusivo no doubt to the maturity of the fortress or pucará located near the city and for being also a strong border square against the Indians. On the shield and in the midst of clouds appears the Agnus Dei, cast on the book of seven seals and bearing a red flag of two ends, with a silver cross as it is customary to paint it, he undoubtedly alludes to the symbolic Lamb of St John the Baptist, whose name was given to the city.”

Paragraph of Dr. Enrique Gamarra in Madrid on December 21, 1929.

A reproduction of the city's shield, modeled in bronze, has been exhibited in the assembly hall of the Provincial Municipality of Huamanga since July 28, 1930.

Flag and anthem

With a light blue background, the flag contains the coat of arms of the city. For its part, on April 18, 2013, the Huamanga anthem was officially recognized as a symbol of identity and identification of its citizens.

Geography

Panoramic from Acuchimay's viewpoint.

Panoramic from the viewpoint of the Picota.

Location

The city of Ayacucho is located in the extreme northwest of the department and south of the central highlands of the country, in the southern area of the Andes. Its geographic coordinates are: 13°9′37″S 74°13′33″W / -13.16028, -74.22583. The city occupies the district of Ayacucho, also known as the historic center, and erroneously called 'cercado', as well as the urban area of the districts of Carmen Alto, Andrés Avelino Cáceres, San Juan Bautista and Jesús Nazareno, within the valleys of the Huatatas and Chacco rivers.

Climate

Ayacucho climate.

The city of Ayacucho is located in the Quechua region, according to the classification made by the Peruvian geographer Javier Pulgar Vidal; who divided the territory of Peru into eight natural regions. This region is characterized by wide ravines with flat bottoms. The climate is temperate and dry, with an average temperature of 17.5 °C and an average relative humidity of 56%. It can be considered as a valley at medium height; As far as humidity is concerned, it is considered a semi-arid zone. The rainy season is between November and March.

From an ecological point of view, it corresponds to the plant formation called "lower montane dry forest" within Holdridge's life zone classification system. The basin is limited by the foothills of the Andes, whose hills surround the city and are low: La Picota hill to the west and Acuchimay hill to the south. In these topographic conditions, irradiation, cloud formation and rain occur, which together form the climate of Ayacucho.

Average climatic parameters of Ayacucho +-2760 m s. n. m.).
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Average temperature (°C)	24	24	23	24.5	24.5	23	22.5	24	24.5	25	26.5	24.5	24.2
Average temperature (°C)	16.3	16.1	15.8	15.9	14.6	13.4	13.3	14.3	15.6	16.6	17	16.4	15.4
Temp. medium (°C)	11	11	10	9.5	8	7	7	8	8	10	12	12	9.5
Total precipitation (mm)	111	110	93	31	13	8	5	13	28	39	43	72	564
Source No. 1: Instituto Geofísico de Perú
Source No. 2: climate-data.org

History

First settlers

The historical vestiges discovered in the Piquimachay caves show that the town where the city of Ayacucho has been located has been inhabited for 22,000 years. Such remains were discovered in 1966 by the American archaeologist Richard Macneish, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who In his eagerness to seek the origin of corn in America, he arrives in Ayacucho and manages to discover the oldest evidence of the presence of man in South America.

Piquimachay also showed that, in the Andes, the transit of the use of the carved stone (Paleolithic) to the polished stone (Neolithic) did not follow the Eurasian molds: the stone polishing did not mark the emergence of villages or the discovery of the agriculture; Nor was there an age of metals that defined the formation of a system of political power.

Warpa Culture

In Ayacucho, as in many Andean areas, agricultural experimentation imposed a rigid organization of human groups. Throughout the formation of regional agricultural cultures (between the years 1500 and 200), Ayacucho was the seat of original expressions, many of them still barely studied. There are testimonies from the early formative period in Wichqana, which some scholars relate to Kotosh/Wayrajirca (Huánuco) and Waywaqa (Andahuaylas).

Luis Guillermo Lumbreras affirms that the first great unifying cultural expression of the Ayacucho area emerged around the 1st century and reached its peak between the 2nd and 5th centuries. It would be the Huarpa (or warpa), whose main urban settlement was in Ñahuinpuquio, south of the current city of Ayacucho.

The Huarpas would have widened the region's agricultural frontier by building terraces (Lagunillas), reservoirs (Quicapata) and canals (Racaypampa). It is estimated that they spoke the aru language. The phase of greatest development of the Huarpas coincided with a notorious presence in the coastal region of the Nazca culture.

About the final fate of the Huarpas there are still uncertainties. According to Luis Guillermo Lumbreras, between the 5th and 6th centuries, Huarpa progressively became Wari. For his part, Federico Kauffmann Doig, on the other hand, assigns decisive importance to the presence in the Ayacuchana region, around the year 600 of our era., from the Tiahuanaco culture, from the highlands, whose stylistic imprint would have been fundamental for the emergence of what we know as Wari.

Wari Empire

Tunica wari.

The Wari culture appeared between the years 500 and 1100 and emerged 20 km northeast of the current city. The Wari culture was formed on the basis of the Huarpa, Nazca and Tiahuanaco cultures. Ayacucho was the administrative political center of this first pre-Inca Andean empire, which reached high levels of quality in the production of ceramics, fabrics, metals and stone, between the years 1100-1420 AD. C. in the period of the Chancas. The city of Wari had a population of over 50,000 inhabitants. The Wari Empire expanded to the territories that correspond to the current departments of Cajamarca and Lambayeque to the north and south to what are today the departments of Cusco and Moquegua respectively.

The imperial architectural pattern established in the portentous Wari city was reproduced in the Wari cities of Piquillacta (Cuzco), Huilcahuaín and Oncopampa (Áncash), Huarihuillca (Junín), Cajamarquilla (Lima) and Pachacámac (Lima).

Ayacucho owes its greatest artisanal splendor of the pre-Hispanic period to the Wari empire. From Ayacucho, the use of carmine, a dye from the cochineal, spread. Reciprocally, Ayacucho obtained cotton at this stage, which would come from Chincha; lapis lazuli, originally from Moquegua and fine wood from Apurimeña.

Given the weakening of the Wari Empire, several local societies arose that gradually acquired power, among them mainly the Pocras, Chancas, Willcas, Uramarcas, Atunsullas, Andamarca, Angaraes, Quinuallas and other regional indigenous groups that were grouped into what It was known as the Chanka culture that rivaled the Incas, coming to occupy Cusco, being defeated by them during the Pachacútec government in the 15th century.

Inca times

Ushnu or Pirámide Ceremonial Inca, Vilcashuamán.

Around the XV century, the region was occupied by the Incas, after the defeat of the Pacoras and Hanan Chankas Parcos, who controlled all the ayllus of Ancoyaco (Mantaro) having Paucarbamba as their capital.

The Incas reaffirmed the current location of the city as the administrative center, head of the town and base for the coalition with the Xauxas and Wankas of what is today the region of Junín. They also applied their policy of mitimaes, transferring very few original populations to other places and repopulating Ayacucho with ethnic groups and peoples from a few places in the empire.

Thus, the religious administrative center of Vilcashuamán (sacred hawk in Quechua) was erected in the area, which has the Ushnu or Ceremonial Pyramid, the Temple for the Sun and the Moon, the Acllahuasi or Temple of the Virgins and a flat and central square. The distribution of the city of Vilcashuamán was made in such a way that together they form the figure of a falcon (guamán). Its construction is attributed to the Inca Túpac Yupanqui.

Starting in 1532, with the arrival of the Spanish, in the Ayacucho region there was a process of war under the Spanish occupation, which lasted approximately until 1537.

Viceregal period

The city of Huamanga, according to Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala. The temple with portals occupies the extension of the square with two towers at the ends. He seems to have wanted to symbolize a city with many temples, placing in his drawing five towers.

The Spanish founding of the city of Guamanga was due to three main reasons: First, to protect the nascent viceregal state from the danger posed by the rebel troops of Manco Inca (based in Cocha, in the district of Iguain, Huanta). The second reason was due to the disagreements between the same Hispanics who wanted more plots and lands that Vasco de Guevara and Antonio de la Gama revoked in the name of Francisco Pizarro. The third and main reason was due to the need for an intermediate city on the long route between Lima and Cuzco. Those motivations are related to a single theme: the control and security of recently conquered territory.

Thus, on January 29, 1539, Francisco Pizarro carried out the first foundation of Huamanga, with the name of San Juan de la Frontera, accompanied on this occasion by Antonio de Carbajal and the clergyman Juan de Sosa. Pizarro appointed Francisco de Cárdenas as first lieutenant governor, who later handed over the position to Captain Vasco de Guevara. At that time there were barely 24 neighbors and 40 Spanish residents.

It is in these circumstances, on the eve of Christmas 1539, when the new lieutenant governor, Vasco de Guevara, arrived. After analyzing the complaints, he noticed that the place where the settlers were living was a place « cold”, “rainy”, “cloudy” and strategically played against its objective, which was to preserve the safety of passers-by between the Inca Empire and the City of Kings. Faced with this finding, it was decided to convene a council of the main residents and clergy. On April 1, 1540, the agreement was reached to move the city to another place, with better living conditions.

Subsequently, the first seat is moved to the place called Pacora or Pocora, Spanishized as Pukaray (refers to some Inca fortress that existed there before and that inspired the image of the official coat of arms twenty years later) where the On April 25, 1540, the lieutenant governor Vasco de Guevara refounded, under the consent of Francisco Pizarro, the town of San Juan de la Frontera de Huamanga. This is the reason why Vasco de Guevara is considered the second founder of Huamanga. The city was recognized by the Spanish crown as such on May 17, 1544. Later in 1816 it was granted a coat of arms at the request of the deputy to the Cortes of Cádiz, José de Mujica.

In 1586, two neighbors, Pedro de Rivera and Antonio de Chávez, were in charge of complying with a viceregal ordinance to evaluate the resources of the region. Both delivered a written testimony of what the city was:

This city has such a moderate temper that it is not cold or hot; it is so peaceful that neither in summer or winter does heat or cold weigh. The shape of the houses of this city is like those of Spain, with its tall and low rooms large and anchurous, with its patios and corridors, orchards and pens... and its irrigation water that comes by a main acequia and spreads to the houses according to its quantity... The town is small and the shape of the broad streets and its large square; the streets are divided by blocks... It has two parishes of Indians of those who live for the service of the city and of other extavators who call yanaconas, which some of them are official and have their particular priests, one in each parish. There are veynte and five neighbors of encomienda and feud of Indians, and fifty others that have houses and not Indians; and all the Spaniards of this people shall be a hundred and fifty.

Pedro de Rivera and Antonio de Chávez.

The Viceroyalty Foundation of the city of Huamanga was carried out following the model of the Spanish cities: the seven games. The city would have a Plaza Mayor Santa Ana (later known as Plaza Jerusalem), water, good lands whose lots were delivered to its first founders, which mostly participated in the capture of the Inca Atahualpa in Cajamarca. Gradually, he moved The Historic Center of Santa Ana and Pucacruz to the Plaza Mayor that it occupies today, characterized by having the arcades built in the first decades of the century > XVIII .

After its foundation and transfer, the city experienced remarkable growth, especially ecclesial. Huamanga began with a major church in 1540, on which three parishes depended: that of the tabernacle, which was of Spaniards, and those of Santa Ana or Hanan Parish, and Santa María Magdalena or uray parish (parish above and below, respectively) that were of the so -called natural I> After these were installed and built in the mercedarians who arrived with the foundation of the city in 1541, and had eight chaplains in 1586. The Dominicans were established in 1548 and also had six chaplains in 1586. Finally, finally, finally, finally, The Franciscans operated since 1552, and administered five chaplains in 1586.

The convents panorama is completed with the two existing nuns: Santa Clara, founded with resources from the encomendero and businessman Antonio de Oré, and Santa Teresa, physical expression of the capital accumulated by the rich mining Amador de Cabrera. Both convents will channel the expectations of the Spanish women's sector who did not achieve (or did not want) to marry. Finally, the first Jesuit missions were made in the region in the 1580s, they will establish their convent at the beginning of the XVII and from From him he will raise one of the most important religious-economic companies in the region, until his expulsion in 1767.

A historical computer pole of regional economic life during the colonial era was mining. The Mining Center that stood out the most for that time (sixteenth and seventeenth centuries) was the Mercury mine of Santa Barbara (Huancavelica), acquiring importance the commercial circuit that revolved around it. The administrative and commercial axis was located in Huamanga, which was the knot of all commercial routes.

Another important economic activity during the colony were the "works", which consisted of manufacturing companies of gross fabrics and cloths prepared for workers' consumption. In the works, the operators were woven, with the operators they were gathered in the same construction, resembling modern factories. Since the beginning of the 17th century, the presence of weavers in the indigenous and mestizo neighborhoods of Huamanga, and even the Carmen Alto neighborhood, one of the most traditional in the city, specialized in textile production. As part of its artisanal and commercial character, the city of Huamanga acquired the profile of a manufacturing city where incessantly.

The city of Huamanga became a large shopping center. Due to its geographical location, it was a mandatory passage of travelers and merchants who were directed to Cusco, Alto Peru and the Río de la Plata, which gave great relevance to Huamanga, during much of the viceregal period. Such a situation He translated into a particular architecture, stone base and second level in wood, an entrenched religious faith expressed in more than 30 temples, several convents and cloisters.

stately houses are the most representative of civil architecture in the viceregal Huamanga. They are located, like the churches, in the central nucleus of the city: around the Plaza de Armas and certain adjacent streets. Regarding its design and distribution of environments, the Ayacuchana manor is inspired by the Castilian housing of high class, although some elements manage to provide it with personality and an accent of the Andean baroque of the century XVIII .

The presence of the church in Ayacucho is important, especially since 1609, where the bishopric of Huamanga is created, dismembering himself from the jurisdiction of Cusco. In 1615, the Bishopric Fray Agustín de Carvajal assumes, who was the first bishop of Huamanga; Twenty years later, in 1632, the Bishopric Francisco Verdugo assumes, who initiated the construction of the cathedral, consecrated only in 1672 by the famous Bishop Cristóbal de Castilla y Zamora. Both were the most important bishops of the "Golden Age" (seventeenth century) of the Catholic Church in Ayacucho.

On July 3, 1677, by the action of the illustrious bishop of the Diocese of Huamanga, Don Cristóbal de Castilla y Zamora founded the National University of San Cristóbal de Huamanga in Ayacucho. The Foundation was endorsed on December 21, 1680 by King Carlos II of Spain.

Map of Ayacucho, 1865 by Mariano Paz Soldán.

Capitulation of Ayacucho, where the independence of America was consolidated.

Since the last times of the Viceroyalty of Peru, the inhabitants of Ayacucho actively participated in the ideas of independence. Thus, characters such as Basilio Auqui (chief of the cowboys of the plains of the Peruvian Andes, called morochucos), the campanera Ventura Ccalamaqui and the heroine María Parado de Bellido, among others. However, Huamanga continued to be a military center of the royalist army, from where the expeditions under the command of Goyeneche even left, which in 1810 headed to quell the revolutions in Upper Peru.

Republican era

In the context of the Cuzco Rebellion, the Angulo brothers sent the second patriot military expedition to Huamanga. The occupation took place on September 20, 1814, under the command of the Argentine Manuel Hurtado de Mendoza, who had cleric José Gabriel Béjar and Mariano Angulo as lieutenants. Hurtado de Mendoza ordered a march to Huancayo, which was taken peacefully.

Viceroy Abascal sent well-equipped and disciplined troops from Lima, under the command of Colonel Vicente González. These troops were reinforced with Huantino militias, since Huanta remained faithful to the Spanish crown. The battle of Huanta took place on September 30, 1814, the actions lasted three days, after which the patriots withdrew, leaving Huamanga. They reorganized in Andahuaylas and faced the royalists again on January 27, 1815, in the battle of Matará, where they were again defeated.

In 1820 General Juan Antonio Álvarez de Arenales, under the instructions of Don José de San Martín, arrived in the city during the so-called Intermediate Campaign, which sought to attack Lima through the Andes while San Martín did so through the coast. Thus, Arenales declared independence in Huamanga on November 1, 1820.

On December 9, 1824, the Battle of Ayacucho took place, held in the pampas of the neighboring town of Quinua. The liberating army commanded by the Venezuelan Mariscal Antonio José de Sucre, defeated the royalist army commanded by Viceroy La Serna and with him, signed the Capitulation of Ayacucho. The independence of Peru and America is finally consolidated.

Political and economic problems caused the closure of the university in 1876 (among other universities such as those of Trujillo and Puno). The citizens raised their protest against the closure, in 1876 the citizens of Ayacucho met with the purpose of asking the Government to reorganize and reestablish the University. In the war with Chile (1879 -1883), the availability of resources that Huamanga had, allowed Mariscal Andrés Avelino Cáceres from Ayacucho to start his campaigns against the invading army.

Contemporary period

An Ayacuchano regionalist discourse began to take shape in the 1920s and 30s, caused by the expansion of the young Peruvian state and by the example of the Cuzco intelligentsia, which claimed a role of cultural leadership as a result of its identification with the Incas. The Ayacuchos faced some limitations when it came to imitating their fellow Cusco. Despite efforts to find a "pokra" nation in historical documentation, the city lacked a visible and documented pre-Columbian heritage of its own. The importance of the nearby Wari archaeological site only began to be discussed in the 1930s, and furthermore it belonged to a civilization that completely lacked written documentation.

The Ayacucho intelligentsia turned mainly to the "rescue" of the colonial and nineteenth-century history of Ayacucho, and its folklore. This project materialized through the creation in 1934 of the Ayacucho Cultural Center, which published the magazine Huamanga. The group that formed around the Ayacucho Cultural Center was socially conservative and pro-clerical —it advocated regional development and the improvement of the situation of the Indian, but he rejected the revolutionary programs of the new political movements, particularly Aprismo. In 1940, the Ayacucho population was 18,275 inhabitants, which made it one of the largest cities in the sierra, surpassed only by Huancayo (28,679), Cusco (45,158) and Arequipa (79,185).

The study of regional folklore became a key project for the Ayacucho intelligentsia, which produced the main Peruvian folklorists of the mid-20th century , including Víctor Navarro de Águila and Efraín Morote Best. The study of music, festivities, beliefs and popular rituals made it possible to define a regional identity ("the Ayacuchana soul"), and was also considered a key tool for education. It was a time when artistic and cultural expressions flourished, such as theater, music, crafts, and Ayacucho traditions.

This outcropping of the Huamanguino identity was reinforced in 1957 by the reopening of the National University of San Cristóbal de Huamanga. This fact occurred in a context of increasing external cultural influences (from other parts of the country and abroad) that, it was believed, were displacing the local repertoire. Ayacucho intellectuals defined themselves as scholars and custodians not of a pre-Columbian culture, but of the living culture of the Ayacucho people.

This search for regional identity was reduced during the 1980s, because the region was seriously affected by various agricultural problems and by the phenomenon of migration as a result of political and social violence. That violence was generated by the terrorist group Sendero Luminoso, which claimed the lives of thousands of Ayacuchanans during their quest to control the government of Peru by arms. The communist group Sendero Luminoso was founded in the late 1960s by the then professor of philosophy, from Arequipa Abimael Guzmán, who established a base in the span>National University of San Cristóbal de Huamanga. The uprising of peasants who disagreed with the actions and thinking of Sendero Luminoso due to its lack of respect for indigenous culture and its institutions, and the capture of its leader in 1992 produced the reduction of its actions in the city.

In 1993, the new paving of the Los Libertadores-Wari highway allows a faster and better land connection of Ayacucho with the coast and the capital. Government campaigns in the early 1990s promoted tourism (particularly religious tourism) in order to improve the image of the city in the country and generate a new local industry in the city.

• 

  Municipality Ayacucho

• 

  San Agustín Ayacucho Temple

• 

  Aristocracy ayacuchana

• 

  Arco Ayacucho

• 

  Calls at Plaza Mayor

• 

  Calle peatonal 28 July

In 2017, the central government launched the Ayacucho Waytarin (reborn, in Quechua) program that seeks to value various Ayacucho monuments and cultural manifestations.

In January 2019, President Martín Vizcarra launched the Ayacucho brand, a public-private initiative to raise awareness of the city whose purpose is to promote tourism and consolidate the region's identity.

Districts

Although there is no defined official delimitation, the metropolitan area of Ayacucho comprises 5 districts of the province of Huamanga. These districts have a population of 229,455 inhabitants per year 2020, according to the INEI.

According to the XI Population Census and the VI Housing Census carried out by the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics in 2007, the city of Ayacucho had a population of 151,019 inhabitants. Its annual growth rate was 2.5%.

According to the report Peru: Estimates and Projections of Total Population by Sex of the Main Cities, 2000-2015, published in March 2012 and carried out by the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics in 2007, the As of June 2014, the city of Ayacucho has a population of 177,420 inhabitants and its annual growth rate is 2.2%.

In 2014, Ayacucho ranked 16th among Peruvian cities in terms of population.

Politics

City mayors

In Peru, mayors have been elected by universal and secret ballot since 1963, interrupting these elections between 1969 and 1979. Since 1999, the terms last 4 years.

Economy

Plazuela Santa Clara, west of the Carlos F. Vivanco market.

According to the productive structure of 2006, Ayacucho contributed 1% of the national Gross Value Added (VAB), maintaining its participation with respect to what was registered in the base year 1994. The dynamics of the economy is basically influenced by the behavior of the agricultural, government services, commerce, other services and construction sectors. Most of the tertiary sector of the entire department is housed in the city. This represents 52% of the departmental GVA, highlighting government services (17.4%), commerce (15.7%) and other services (12.4%).

The city has two main markets: the Magdalena market, in the neighborhood of the same name, and the Carlos F. Vivanco market, called Mercado Central, in the historic center of the city.

Art

Crafts

The richness and quality of the crafts of Ayacucho, in its various manifestations, have made it considered the "Capital of Popular Art and Crafts of Peru". In Ayacucho crafts, pre-Columbian techniques and traditions are combined with contributions Hispanics and the permanent creativity of the inhabitants of the region. Its best-known expressions are the altarpieces, the stone carvings of Huamanga and the silverware and filigree works. Ayacucho ceramics are very renowned and characteristic. Since 2019, Ayacucho is part of the Unesco Network of Creative Cities, in the category of crafts and popular arts.

Retablos

Ayacuchanos altarpieces.

The Ayacucho Altarpieces, direct descendants of the Spanish drawers of San Marcos or San Antonio, represent scenes with deep Andean content inside. They are a traditional sample of the remarkable creative and artistic capacity of the artisans of this land. The handmade piece consists of a showy and colorful wooden box with double doors. Its walls are decorated with flowers of a different nature and it presents a horizontal interior division: the Hanan Pacha or heavenly world and the Kay Pacha or earthly world.

From colonial times to recent decades, the Ayacucho altarpiece has continued to evolve. The levels of representation are now four or six; the supports are made of metal or glass; the main characters are usually historical leaders and current politicians.

Huamanga Stone

Huamanga Stone.

Huamanga stone is the local name given to alabaster, a mineral that is white in color and sometimes, with shades ranging from gray or lead to sepia. It is a sediment of volcanic origin and is characterized by its easy malleability, its whitish color and its exclusivity.

Sculptors from Huamanguin, in colonial times, carved relief paintings, delicate figures and religious groups painted in polychrome oil. The most frequent representations were virgins, saints, births and the descent of Christ.

Towards the end of the 18th century, gallant themes and Chinese lions appeared; the figures were colored transparently. Little by little, the color disappeared, limiting itself only to the hair and facial features, using gold for details. The white and polished surface of the stone became increasingly important in the 19th century, a time when allegorical and secular representations stood out over religious ones. Today, popular artisans have paid more attention to rural characters and themes, and to the sculptural groups in which the whiteness of the material prevails.

Orfebrería

Since the viceroyalty, the Ayacucho goldsmiths achieved great fame for the remarkable work they carried out, this fame is preserved because silver continues to be worked with masterful techniques for embossing, engraving and filigree, which consists of intertwining silver threads and is used to make pins and earrings, among other jewelry.

Sarhua Tables

In the district of Sarhua, it is customary to give away a wooden board (usually made of molle or cabuya) painted with the history of the family for the purpose of building a new house. Each member of the family must see themselves reflected in their daily tasks. The artisans later created tables on various themes, such as agriculture, marketing trips, or religious events, and thus expanded the repertoire of the initial theme of the tables, always preserving their particular graphics. In each piece, a horizontal description is made, which has an order of pictographic interpretation, from bottom to top and from left to right. The tables are painted with natural pigments extracted from the earth and vegetables; The bird feather is used to outline the figures and make the details of the clothing. Currently there are tables, pictures and utilitarian pieces of various sizes.

Literature

Juan de Mata Peralta stands out, who develops the compilation, Tradiciones de Huamanga. The "Traditions of Huamanga", are stories that are preserved for posterity in the form of traditions, which constitute one of the sources of local history. The cultural context that developed in the city gave rise to the progressive emergence of an urban history full of anecdotes and legendary explanations of many events in the life of the city, as well as the private life of many of its inhabitants. This story was transmitted and is still transmitted orally, incorporating characters or disappearing them or magnifying some facts and circumstances according to the moment when it is related and transmitted to the new generations, that message of urban history rescued from time.

Music

Ayacuchana music as a cultural manifestation encompasses various musical genres. The first records of an Ayacuchano musical tradition begin with the Apuyaya Jesus Christ, a religious song linked to Holy Week Friday. Songs like Adiós Pueblo de Ayacucho or Flor de Retama are part of the current tradition of Ayacucho music. Among the authors and composers, in the huayno, Augusto Polo Campos stands out, the guitarists of Raúl García Zárate and Manuelcha Prado; the charango of Jaime Guardia, the violin of Máximo Damián, the voices of Martina Portocarrero, the Ayacucho duo, the Warpas, among other figures.

The city of Ayacucho went through a period of strong diffusion of huayno from southern Peru, produced in part by having one of the few companies that recorded and recorded music on cassettes in the 80s in the south of the country. In the 1990s, this diffusion was consolidated with the success in sales of the compilation albums "Ayacucho en el Corazón de Todos".

Currently, traditional Ayacuchana music has been taken to fusion and contemporary rhythms where Amor Amor stands out, by the Gaitán Castro brothers, Max Castro, Grupo Antología and others, where songs with lyrics are developed in Spanish and Quechua. Likewise, other groups such as Uchpa take this fusion of languages to other genres, such as rock. Likewise, there are various Folk Orchestras that spread Ayacuchana music, among which the Orquesta Los Ayacuchanos de Oro and Los Libertadores de Ayacucho stand out.

Theater

In the first half of the XX century, a current of costumbrista theater took place in the city that revalued the Quechua language and the Andean oral traditions of the region. In the late 1910s, Moisés Cavero wrote the drama Qisanpi sapan urpikuna ("Lonely doves in their nest"). The work was premiered in 1920 at a function of the Círculo de Obreros Católicos. Qisanpi sapan urpikuna is among the earliest known examples of Quechua theater from republican Peru that was set in the present and not in Inca times. The work reflects the intense concern for the indigenous peasantry that characterized the 1910s and 1920s. In 1939 an unpublished work by Cavero Cazo was premiered, Kaypi wayta, wakpi kichka ("Here the flower, there the thorn"). Then began the boom period of Ayacucho Quechua theater, extending until around 1950, thus coinciding with the rise of the regionalist project expressed in the Ayacucho Cultural Center and the magazine Huamanga.

The most prolific of the Quechua playwrights from Ayacucho was the priest José Salvador Cavero León, who in the mid-1940s published two costumbrista comedies: Rasuhuillcap wawankuna ("Hijos del Rasuhuillca"), in 1945 and Kay pacha qapaq (“The mighty one of this land”) in 1946. Rasuhuillcap wawankuna describes the troubled relationship of a mother with her teenage daughter, who has established a relationship with a young behind his back. In 1955 Cavero published the drama Wakchapa muchuynin ("The Suffering of the Poor") which recounts the sufferings of an old man and his orphaned grandson.

At the end of the 50s, the Ayacucho theater entered a period of decline, according to Salvador Cavero. No new Quechua plays were published in Ayacucho after Wakchapa muchuynin (1955). Salvador Cavero attributed the decline of Quechua theater in Ayacucho to migratory phenomena, both the departure of Ayacucho residents and the arrival of migrants from other parts of the country who did not speak Quechua. He regretted that the establishment in the late 1950s of the National University of San Cristóbal de Huamanga did not have the expected effect of stimulating Quechua literary culture.

In homage to José Salvador Cavero León, the Municipality of Huamanga renamed the municipal theater with his name.

Qapchi

Gastronomy

Puca picante

Like other cities in Peru, Ayacucho has a variety of dishes, drinks, and pastries. They stand out among them:

• The spicy puca, stew prepared from small potato, roasted and grinded peanut, slices of beef and beterraga (which gives it its reddish color, puka in quechua), seasoned with coloured pepper and other condiments.
• The mondongo, mote soup that is cooked all night with beef, beef and pork bacon. The particularity of the dish in Ayacucho is the addition of an aderezo of ground and toasted aji, along with chopped grass.
• The qapchiA cream made from Ayacucho cheese (or Cachipa), rocoto, Chinese onion and milk. It's accompanied by yellow potatoes.
• The veryuchi (“turn”, in Quechua), fresh milk-based ice cream, ajonjoli, coconut, vanilla essence, cinnamon and odor nail. By serving they are accompanied by airampo (sweet of the nuggets of the tuna that gives it a bermellion color) and of coats made of special flour with anise. It is a long-standing traditional dessert in the city. dates back to the last century. In the past, when there was no electricity in the city, the families of dolders sent their servants to the snowy Razuhillca to bring ice wrapped with ichu in mules, to prepare the veryuchi. radially it is consumed in the portal Union of the Plaza Mayor, sold by ladies with typical costume of the region, called "Very clever", which manually rotate a metal pot over a container containing the ice.
  

  Muyuchi in the Plaza Mayor
• The lath bread, traditional bread without Huamanga crumb made from local wheat flour and yeast from the remains of the hut chicha to which they called Cunchu. The most outstanding stages of making this bread are the puñuchiq (“make sleep” in quechua), where the flour dough rests for a certain time until its ripening. After dividing the dough into small bowls, follow the stage taqllay which consists of crushing these pieces with the hands until forming a flat circle. It is traditionally consumed with sauco confection, cheese Cachipa Or Huanta's strong stick.
• Wawas, hogazas or large wheat breads, moulded and decorated in the form of a small child or baby, sometimes filled with sweet, that are made and consumed at the feast of All Saints, on November 1.

Other representative dishes are Ayacuchano adobo, chicharrón, patachi, puchero, uman broth, guinea pig, Ayacuchano pachamanca and Ayacucho chorizo, which is the traditional dish for Holy Week. The well-known drinks are chicha de jora, chicha de molle, chicha de siete semidas and the Ayacuchano punch, which is the traditional drink of Holy Week.

Tourism

Main festivities

Holy Week

Ayacucho stands out not only for its numerous temples and colonial mansions, but also for its ancestral customs and traditions, which reflect the faith of its people.

The Holy Week of Ayacucho is the second most important in the world after Seville (Spain). In these two cities the old rituals of Holy Week are maintained, where it feels and perceives a special religious fervor. In this Latin American capital of Holy Week, the holiday is held for ten days, in which the population and tourists participate in religious ceremonies and processions, as well as in cultural, artistic, gastronomic and commercial activities. The particularity of this Holy Week is that it mixes European traditions with the Andean cultural characteristics.

All members of the Ayacuchana society participate in some way in the various events that make up this unique and colorful religious and pagan holiday. From the local authorities, as well as national, through the butlers of the eight main processions of the city. In the main central streets of the city beautiful flower carpets are created to receive processions.

Holy Week in Ayacucho begins on Friday of Dolores, Then it continues with Holy Saturday, where the Procession of Señor de la Parra leaves, then comes Palm Sunday.¨After On Holy Monday, the Procession of the Lord of the Garden leaves.

On Holy Tuesday, the Procession of the Señor de la Sentencia leaves.

On Holy Wednesday, the Procession of the Meeting takes place, one of the most emotional in the Ayacucho population and tourists in general. The Plaza Mayor is the setting where the encounter of El Nazareno, patron saint of Huamanga, with his mother is relived.

On Holy Thursday, the 7 churches of the city are visited and the holy water is collected from said temples.

On Good Friday, the road to Calvary is staged, and at night, the lights of the Plaza Mayor go out and the procession of the Lord of the Holy Sepulcher leaves, where the image of Christ lies in a crystal coffin adorned with white flowers accompanied by the Sorrowful Virgin. This moving procession is accompanied by faithful dressed in mourning with candle in hand, who accompany the procession in mourning to the beat of the band of musicians and the choir of this procession, which dedicates heartbreaking songs, among them the traditional Apuyaya Jesus Christ . After the procession and almost at the end of the day, the young people go to the "Vela Toro" or Toro Velay, which is the dawn before the "Easter Bull" on Saturday.

Glory Saturday is a day of popular celebration that begins with the “Easter Bull” or “Jala Toro”, a traditional custom in which the bulls are released from the Alameda de Huamanga towards the Plaza de Armas. The bulls are lassoed by the riders with their brave Morochuco horses, escorted by landowners with paso horses, who accompany the groups of people who are running ahead of the brave fighting bulls, while in the square the people riot and form human towers, waiting for the bulls. At night, the crowd awaits the dawn of Sunday, where the risen Christ will be seen. Outside, at the four corners of the Plaza de Armas, you can see the "chamiza" bonfires burning, as a sign of welcome, and impressive pyrotechnic castles that adorn the night.

On Easter Sunday, the Procession of the Risen Christ takes place. The appearance of the anda, in the dark dawn, produces the effect of a great and impressive beauty. The procession covers the entire perimeter of the main square; In addition to the artificial games, the "chamiza" is burned, which with its brilliance and crackling gives an atmosphere of celebration and joy. This procession is the most impressive of Holy Week for its meaning and for the great magnitude of the enormous throne, which is carried by approximately 300 devotees. Then, in the afternoon, the traditional horse races of the Morochucos take place.

Ayacuchano Carnival

During the month of February, the Ayacucho Carnival brings together adults and children in a celebration that officially lasts three days, but which begins a month ago with the arrival of rural comparsas, which come from different places in the department, both to compete in the great contest of rural comparsas, and to dance through the streets of the city showing the cultural wealth of where they come, wealth that they find in their song and their dance always to the rhythm of the carnivals.

On December 4, 2003, the National Institute of Culture (INC) declared Cultural Heritage of the Nation to the Carnival of Ayacucho, for being one of the most beautiful Carnival celebrations in Peru, which are not only held in Huamanga, but in many districts of this city. It is the only carnival in Peru that is officially declared as cultural heritage of the Nation.

American Freedom Week

The anniversary of the glorious battle of Ayacucho is celebrated on December 9. During the week the International Guitar Festival is held "American Libertad", as well as other cultural and folk activities. The staging of the battle of Ayacucho is carried out in the same Quinoa Pampa, which congregates thousands of people.

Huamanga Anniversary

Bulls of glory in St John the Baptist Square.

April 25 is the anniversary of the Spanish foundation of Huamanga, capital of the department of Ayacucho; decreed in 1540. It is a holiday that over time has become a week of many celebrations to commemorate said event: festivals, exhibitions, fairs, parades, etc.

Day of the Ayacuchana Song

In 1988, the National Institute of Culture of Ayacucho issued Directorial Resolution No. 005, declaring November 6 of each year as "Ayacuchana Folk Song Day", in homage to Professor Felipe Nery García Zárate, died the same day a year earlier. During this day various cultural and folkloric activities are carried out.

Architecture

Temples

Nightlight of the Basilica Cathedral of Ayacucho.

The oldest Catholic temples date back to the 16th century, the time when the first religious orders settled in the area. In general, the Ayacucho colonial temples combine Hispanic, Latino and Arab elements, with indigenous features, such as carved stones with motifs of local flora and fauna. Some of the main colonial temples:

• Basilica Cathedral. It is located on the east side of the Plaza Mayor of the city of Ayacucho. The King Philip III of Spain ordered his construction by Real Cédula of July 5, 1612, dedicating it to the Virgin of the Snows; his current construction demolished about forty years and was consecrated on May 19, 1672. It consists of three naves of sober architecture that contrast with the delicacy of its interior space, which is decorated with altarpieces in Baroque-churrigueresque Golden Pan, the tabernacle of its main altar lined with silver foils, and the delicate sizes of its confessionals and pulpit. He exhibits paintings from various pictorial schools of the colonial era. They are famous the altarpiece of Our Lady of Socos, of the Lord of Burgos and of the Llorón Child, stories contained in the Peruvian traditions of Ricardo Palma.

Santo Domingo in 1924. The swordsman (which is mistakenly thought to be used as a place of hanging and punishment to the heretics) and the corinthian column crowned by a stone cross were built in memory of the victims of the storm and earthquake that hit Huamanga on October 9, 1640.

• Temple of Santo Domingo. It was the second temple of Huamanga and was built in the middle of the 16th century under the convocation of the Virgin of the Rosary. By the documents of then, it is known that it was built with the stones of the ancient fortress of «Pukaray», ancient fortress inca, which was in the property of Martin de Andueza, a notable neighbor of the city. On its façade stands the sword of three arches to the left side and, according to a (eronea) popular tradition, it is said that it was the place where the Holy Inquisition punished the heretics. In the only nave of the temple stands out the main altar, covered with golden bread and decorated with colorful images and paintings characteristic of the Churrigueresco baroque. During the celebrations of Holy Week, the images of the Lord of the Holy Sepulchre and of the Blessed Virgin leave the temple. In the corner of the court a stone cross has been lifted, placed in memory of the storm of October 9, 1640.

• Temple and Convent of Saint Francis of Assisi. Built in the centuryXVIIt was an attempt to recreate the peninsular grecorrome style in the Andes. In the interior stands out the main altar, formed by four carved wooden bodies and golden style of Churrigueresco. It has the largest bell in the city and preserves a valuable collection of colonial canvases from the Cusqueña and Ayacuchana schools, in addition to a library. The temple was restored between 1982 and 1983 and the convent in 1898.

Mansions

The encomenderos, corregidores, landowners, and miners built their houses in Huamanga, thinking of the mansions in the style of the Spanish cities of Seville, Córdoba, Andalusia, Ávila, and Granada at that time. Despite the passage of time, the mansions still retain much of their old excellence:

• Case of the Chosenman Nicolás de Boza y Solís. Located in the Portal Constitución, it was the mansion of this Spanish General who was the Corridor and mayor of Huamanga. It was built in the 17th century and is of mixed style. It features a main zaguán that leads to a courtyard with a pool, its cover has been built in stone and the gate carved with masks and aldabas, also stands out the access staircase to the second floor, carefully covered with Venetian tiles. In the interior is the cell in which it was confined for three days to the procer of independence María Parado de Bellido before being shot. This case currently operates as the departmental headquarters of the judiciary.
• Case of Bishop Cristóbal de Castilla y Zamora. Located in the Municipal Portal, the case belonged to the illustrious Spanish bishop D. Cristóbal de Castilla y Zamora, who ceded it as a university cloister. The facade, which leads to the Plaza Mayor, looks four beautiful portals on the first level that call it "Portalillo del Obispo" supported by three circular columns and two rectangular pilasters as well as a stone carving of San Cristobal. On the second level, there is a corridor with wooden balustres; in the central part, between the cornisamiento and the corridor is the shield of Bishop Castile and Zamora, carved in stone, with the weapons of Castile and Leon separated by a bar born of dredging. Inside is a spacious staircase. In its courtyard stands out an old fig plant of more than 300 years; for this reason, the local is also known as "La Higuera" or "Patio de la higuera". In 1940, and for a short time, the Superior Court of Justice also worked there. One of the rooms in the case located in the first courtyard has been conditioned for a coffee-restaurant. Some scholars point out that the old vine of one of their courtyards is the first that the Spaniards brought to Peru. It currently hosts a convention centre for various cultural events, the university café "La Higuera", the headquarters of the Tuna Universitaria and a library of the Universidad Nacional de San Cristóbal de Huamanga. Declared an integral monument of the National Cultural Heritage, with R.S.N. 2900-72-DE, dated 28 December 1972.
• Casona Velarde Álvarez. Also called Casona del Marquis de Mozobamba del Pozo. Located in the Portal Unión, it is one of the oldest in the city and is known wrongly as Casa del Marquis de Totora, its construction dates back to the end of the centuryXVI and early seventeenth. Its façade is a rough inca wall of more than ten meters long. It has two large and sumptuous patios with solid stone archery, which adorn this colonial plot. It is located on the Portal Unión de la Plaza de Armas. This woman has a special charm, because there is a kind of encounter between the Inca and Spanish. He suffered a serious deterioration at the end of the 1990s and was declared uninhabitable. After a long restoration process carried out by the Spanish Cooperation, it was again open to the public in 2007. This restoration won a prize for Architecture organized by the College of Architects of Peru. The Cultural Center of the National University of San Cristobal de Huamanga is currently in operation.
• Casona Chacón. Located in the Portal Unión, two large and sumptuous courtyards with solid stone archery, engalaanan this building in the centuryXVII. It is a two-storey construction, the environments are distributed in the form of "E" with two patios. the service environments and shops are located on the first floor, and the main environments on the second floor. Data from the centuryXVIII and it's mestizo architecture. the walls, vaults, columns and arches on the first level are of stone, while on the second level they are of adobe. Historical data are known that in the year 1919, in this case, the Regional Congress of the Centre was held, to which he attended as a representative of the department of Ica, the writer Abraham Valdelomar, who died when he suffered a fall from the second floor. It was restored in 1974 by the National Institute of Culture for the operation of the Housing Bank and in 1995 it was acquired by the Credit Bank. At present, the Joaquín López Antay Museum of Popular Art and the seat of that bank operates inside.
• Casona Vivanco. Located on the 28th of July. It has a large courtyard surrounded by corridors with arches and stone pillars carved. Its construction dates from the centuryXVII and combines stone on the first floor and adobe on the second floor. In the central area, the apartment is decorated with red and black and orange rhoms. Currently there are the Museum of Colonial Religious Art and the Museum of Marshal Don Andrés A. Cáceres.
• Casona Jáuregui.a L civil architecture of the huamanguins casees is inspired by how much distribution of environments and appearances to the Spanish tradition, although some constructive aspects and use of materials are made present local characteristics. One of these cases is the casena Jáuregui, located in the second block of the jiron Dos de mayo, specifically in front of the temple La Merced. It was built in the centuryXVII commissioned by the viceroy Agustín de Jáuregui. The casena Jáuregui shows on its stone cover two gargolas in cradles, which hold a beautiful drawer balcony. These felines or monkeys show their genitals and have their mouth sniffed, and they also look at aggressive teeth and in the head tiny cornezuelos. There is also a bicephalus eagle of the Austrian dynasty, which makes it suspect that the manor balcony is six-centered. According to tradition it is said that these demonic monsters were sent to sculpt by the owner in a sign of protest to the Catholic church, which had excommunicated the Jáuregui family for raping a nun from the temple and convent of Santa Clara de Assisi. The architecture of the casena Jáuregui is mestiza, the building of the first floor is of stone and the second is of adobe. To the street there are four small doors with half-point arches.

Cases of Ayacucho

Casona Boza and Solís, current headquarters of the Huamanga Court of Justice. Patio de la Casona Castilla y Zamora. It stands out an old fig plant of more than 300 years; for this reason, the local is also known as "The fig tree" or "Patio de la higuera" Sirial Balcony of the Jauregui case.

Culture

Museums

The illustrious Ayacchano, Andrés A. Cáceres, a great Marshal of Peru, patron of the Infantry weapon, former president of Peru and Peruvian hero.

• Museum of Memory "To keep it from repeating". Museum of historical collection, located in the urbanization Nery García Zárate, jirón Libertad 1229. The museum has four rooms in which photographs, paintings, remnants of clothing and other objects related to the internal war that Peru lived in the 1980s and whose maximum social impact occurred in Ayacucho. It is administered by the National Association of kidnapped, detained and disappeared families of Peru (ANFASEP).
• Archaeological Museum "Hipólito Unanue". Museum of archaeological, anthropological and historical-artistic collection. It is located in the Cultural Complex “Simón Bolívar” and is organized on the basis of the valuable pieces that the former “Regional Historical Museum of Ayacucho” had. Archaeological samples and cultural manifestations of regional and national pre-Hispanic history are exhibited, such as the famous monoliths, sculptures, ceramics, fabrics, stone instruments, ranging from the Lithic and archaic period, to high cultures such as Wari, Chavín, Paracas, Nazca, Mochica, Tiahuanaco, Warpa, Lima, Chimú, Chincha, Chanka-Pokra e

In addition, it has a room that is specially designed to expose the origins and development of the Wari culture, the first Andean empire. In a surrounding environment are exhibits of ayacuchana crafts and paintings of different times. In its exterior it has a botanical garden of cactaceae. It is administered by the Regional Directorate of Culture Ayacucho. It belongs to the National System of State Museums

• Historical Museum Mariscal Andrés A. Cáceres. Museum of historical art collection. It is located in the Jr. 28 of July, in the old "Vivanco" case, which was built at the end of the seventeenth century, being administered by the Army. This museum has a large courtyard surrounded by corridors with arches and well carved stone pillars. It has 13 permanent exhibition halls that exhibit many of Mariscal's military belongings and coats such as: cards, photographs, costumes, colonial canvases, as well as pieces and objects rescued from the War with Chile. In addition to paying tribute to Marshal Cáceres, he shows unique pieces of art, such as colonial paintings of the Ayacucho school, quarrel and rebirth. You can also appreciate examples of colonial stage crafts, ancient furniture with beautiful carvings and contemporary popular art.

In its double archery gallery one of the best stone sculptures of the Peruvian virreinate, called by popular tradition as "Cheqo Pacheco", dating from the 16th century and is supposed to represent the conqueror Pedro Álvarez Holguín or the corrector Juan Gutiérrez de Quintanilla, told in the Huamanga Traditions. He is administrator of the Second Military Infantry Division of Ayacucho.

• Wari Site Museum. Archaeological collection museum. It is located in the Archaeological Complex of Wari, in the km. 23 Carretera Ayacucho - Quinua. The museum exhibits cultural goods from archaeological excavations in the monumental archaeological zone Wari: ceramics, critiques, textiles, monoliths, among others; as well as explanatory texts on Wari culture, a plane and photographs of the sectors that integrate it. It is administered by the Regional Directorate of Culture Ayacucho. It belongs to the National System of State Museums.

• Quinua Site Museum. Museum of historical collection. It is located in the main square of Quinua, 35 km northeast of the city of Ayacucho. In its facilities it has a permanent exhibition room showing weapons, uniforms, models and other objects related to the Battle of Ayacucho. It highlights the atmosphere where the Capitulation of Ayacucho was signed on December 9, 1824. It is administered by the Regional Directorate of Culture Ayacucho. It belongs to the National System of State Museums.

Heritage

Monument to the Marshal Sucre in the Plaza Mayor of Ayacucho.

• Plaza Mayor. It is located in the center of the city and is surrounded by buildings that most date back to the 16th and 17th centuries. It is the largest square in Peru and a monumental set of high historical and architectural value. It has a level of harmony that unites all its components and was made in the style of the squares of Spain, such as those of Mérida and Trujillo. The buildings surrounding the square are true works of colonial Baroque architecture; stone arches and red clay ceilings are seen from any angle. It is the only one in Peru with portals made up of columns and archery of stone, on its four sides. On the perimeter of the square are cases made with white stones, which serve as the headquarters for the main institutions such as the Municipality, the Prefecture, the Superior Court of Justice and the premises of the San Cristóbal de Huamanga National University. The monument that stands out in the center of the Plaza was erected in honor of the Grand Mariscal of Ayacucho Antonio José de Sucre, which is surrounded by Bolivarian shields. In the 1990s a refurbishment was made with the addition of two water sources on the east and west sides.

Evolution of the Plaza Mayor

Years 1847 Around 1900 Years 1910 Years 1920 Around 1945 Around 1960

• Mirador de Acuchimay. It is located in the district of Carmen Alto and it is said that it was once a volcano. It is the official viewpoint, where there is a statue of Christ Redeemer, a small collision, a reception center, observation places and archery, from where you can see much of the city. It was the scene of the Batalla de Acuchimay on February 18, 1882, in which the Peruvian army under the command of Marshal Andrés Avelino Cáceres defeated the Chilean army.

Acuchimay Viewer.

• Barrios Artesanales de Santa Ana, Puca Cruz and Bethlehem. They are characterized by their constructions with carved stone walls and adobe, with their roofs of tile. In these areas there are the workshops and houses of the most outstanding masters of popular art, who express their creativity through carvings of Huamanga stone, weavings, altarpieces, shelves, masonry and talabartería, among others.

• Alameda de Huamanga o Valdelirios. Previously called "Alameda de Santa Teresa" and then "Alameda del Río". It was built by the Prefect José María Frías between 1833 and 1834, while the Intendente Demetrio O'Higgins ordered the construction of the triple archery, imitating the arch of the triumph of Paris, which is a point of entry to the Alameda. Don Rufino Macedo, ordered to build the arches of lime and stone, today called a roof or lookout, in tribute to the independence of Huamanga and the Battle of Ayacucho. Subsequently, it was remodeled by the architect Ernesto Gastelumendi in the 1960s.

• Arc de Triomphe or San Francisco. It was built in 1866 by Don Francisco Vargas, to beautify the city and as 8.000 admission to the Alameda de Santa Clara. It was initially made of stone and mud. Later, it was refurbished on the occasion of the centenary of the Battle of Ayacucho and it was given the shape of a half-point arch with neoclassical style crowning, and it was also given the name "Arc de Triomphe".

• Mirador de la Picota. It is a natural viewpoint, located on the hill of La Picota, where you will find «La Cruz de la Paz», 3 km from the road Libertadores. From the place you can see the entire city of Huamanga, with its traditional neighborhoods, churches, its relief, its flora and landscape.

Surroundings

• Historic Sanctuary of the Pampa de Quinua or Ayacucho. Located in the district of Quinua, picturesque and bucolic land of potters and farmers, 32 km from the city of Ayacucho, where the Battle of Ayacucho was released on December 9, 1824. A 44 m high obelisk has been erected in commemoration from which the Ayacucho countryside can be seen. A few years, on its anniversary, the moments waged in that battle are staged with realism, bringing together hundreds of people. In the Plaza de Armas of the district, you can visit the house where the Capitulation of Ayacucho was signed, the current site museum.

• Wari Archaeological Complex. Located 20 km from the city of Ayacucho, on the road to Quinua, 2830 m. n. m.. It was a pre-inca urban complex, where the capital of the first Andean empire was located: the Wari empire. According to Lumbreras, it sheltered a population of 50 thousand. It is one of the largest urban centers in ancient Peru and occupies an area of about 2000 hectares, where the main buildings are concentrated in the central nucleus. The complex is divided into "barrios" or sectors consisting of stone and mud constructions. It currently has a guided service and a site museum.

Cathedral and Temple of the Sun, Vilcashuamán.

• Cave of Pikimachay. It is located 200 m from the km 24 of the road Ayacucho - Huanta. In this place there have been found Lithic instruments of the Andean paleolithic and bone remains of animals whose antiquity dates from 20 000 years a.c. The prehistoric remains are today in the city of Huanta and are considered one of the oldest in South America.

• Archaeological Complex of Vilcashuamán. It is located in the district of the same name, 118 km, southeast of the city of Ayacucho, 3150 m. n. m. It is an incaic city dating from the centuryXV. It was founded by Pachacútec and is considered one of the most important administrative centers of the Tahuantinsuyo. Vilcashuamán, which means "Halcón Sagrado", consists of a group of archaeological remains of an incaic city, built to the purest Cusqueño architectural style. The walls have been built with blocks of sculpted stone to achieve a perfect lace. These monumental buildings are adorned with trapezoidal doors of monolithic dintils, as well as niches and hornacinas. Some walls feature high relief carvings of snakes and other animals. The main archaeological sectors of Vilcashuamán are: The Temple of the Sun and of The Moon, The Ushnu or Pyramid Ceremonial and the Kallanka o Palacio de Tupac Inca Yupanqui.

Social welfare

Education

Basic Education

There are around 60 public and private educational institutions in the city. The administration of basic education in the city is in charge of the Huamanga Educational Management Unit (UGEL), attached to the Ayacucho Regional Education Directorate of Ministry of Education. Due to the strong religious presence in the city, several of these institutions are linked to religious congregations.

• Colegios Mariscal Andrés Avelino Cáceres, and Colegio San Ramón. State schools, formerly, Great School Units (GUE):
• Our Lady of the Mercedes College. State College of Women.
• Colegio Salesiano Don Bosco. Special parish of men, of the Congregation of the Salesians of Don Bosco
• Colegio María Auxiliadora. Special parish of women, of the Congregation Daughters of Mary Helper
• Our Lady of Fatima College. State College.
• Colegio San Antonio de Huamanga. Mixed parish school of the Franciscan Order
• Colegio "Maria Parado de Bellido".
• Colegio Luis Carranza. State College
• Colegio Federico Froebel
• Colegio San Agustín
• Colegio San Carlos (private)

Higher Education

Since 1967, the city has two higher artistic training establishments: the "Condorcunca" Higher School of Music in Ayacucho, and the "Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala Higher School of Public Artistic Training".

National University of San Cristóbal de Huamanga

The National University of San Cristóbal de Huamanga is located in this city, it is the second university founded in Peru. It was founded with Royal and Pontifical category, on July 3, 1677, by the Illustrious Bishop of the Diocese of Huamanga, D. Cristóbal de Castilla y Zamora. The foundation was endorsed on December 21, 1680 by King Carlos II of Spain.

In 2010, the Federico Froebel University of Ayacucho was founded, which was closed 9 years later.

Health

Because it is the administrative and economic capital, the city has the largest public and private health centers in the department. They are in charge of the Ayacucho Health Directorate

Sports

Sports facilities

The city of Ayacucho has a district soccer and basketball league that trains at the Ciudad de Caracas Sports Complex.

Sports entities

One of the representative teams is the Ayacucho Fútbol Club (previously called Intigas), which participates in the Second Division of Peruvian soccer, Liga 2, and trains at the Ciudad de Cumaná Stadium.

Communication and transportation

Ground connectivity

The city of Ayacucho is a connection node for different national routes. It has three land passenger terminals.

Departmental Connections

Airport

• The main Airport Colonel FAP Alfredo Mendivil Duarte of the city of Ayacucho.

Media

Printed press

• Diary The Voice of Ayacucho, City Diary, (Regional Circulation)
• Diario Correo, edition Ayacucho, Diario del grupo EPENSA. (regional circulation)
• Daily Day. (regional district)
• Diario La calle. (regional district)
• Daily Hocicon. (regional district)

Magazine

• Revista con Sentido. (regional regulation)
• Antauro Magazine. (regional regulation)

Provincial connections

Statue of Sucre in the historical sanctuary of the Pampa de Ayacucho.

• Cangallo (Province of Cangallo) 100 km / 2h 30min
• Huanca Sancos (Provincia de Huanca Sancos) 202 km / 7h via Huancaraylla-Carapo
• Huanta (Province of Huanta) 48 km / 45min
• San Miguel (Provincia de La Mar) 96 km / 3h
• Puquio (Provincia de Lucanas) 870 km / 10h via Libertadores.
• Cora Cora (Provincia de Parinacochas) 810 km / 13h via Libertadores.
• Pause (Province of Paucar del Sara) 930 km / 16h via Libertadores
• Querobamba (Province of Sucre) 214 km / 9h
• Huancapi (Province of Victor Fajardo) 124 km / 4h 30min
• Vilcashuamán (Provincia de Vilcashuamán) 118 km / 3h

Air transportation

The city has the Coronel FAP Alfredo Mendivil Duarte Airport (IATA: AYP), which receives daily commercial flights from three airlines from the city of Lima, the average duration of the trip is 50 min.

• LAN Peru operated by Airbus A319 from Lima (Aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Chávez)

• Star Peru operated by BAe 146-100 / BAe 146-200 / BAe 146-300 from Lima (Aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Chávez)

• LC Peru operated by Dash8-Q202 from Lima (Aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Chávez)

During Holy Week, the Municipality of Huamanga regularly presents representative music and dance groups to receive passengers at the air terminal.

Urban transportation

Public transportation

The city of Ayacucho has 13 public transport lines with little interconnection between them. Transportation management is the responsibility of the Transportation Department of the Provincial Municipality of Huamanga.

Bicycle

The city has exclusive bike paths in the center of the city.

Radius

The city has the following local stations:

• 89.9 FM: Modamix Radio
• 90.5 FM: Antena Sur
• 92.1 FM: Satellite FM
• 95.3 FM: Radio Estación Wari
• 96.1 FM: Cinética Radio
• 96.7 FM: Radio La Poderosa
• 99.3 FM: Atlantis radio
• 101.7 FM: Radio Melody
• 103.3 FM: South American Radio
• 104.1 FM: Radi Chasqui
• 104.5 FM: Radio Fiesta
• 104.9 FM: Super stereo
• 106.1 FM: American Radio
• 107.3 FM: Radio Style 21

Likewise with national stations such as RPP, Panamericana, Studio 92, La voz, Radio Nacional, Radio Capital, Radio Exitosa, Radio heart, Radio la Inolvidable.

Television

The city has the following local stations:

• 11: Yumi TV
• 23: Cordillerana TV
• 25: Canal 25
• 47: Atlantis TV
• Ayatelca (Ayacucho Televisión)

Outstanding characters

SISTERS CITIES

City	Administrative division	Country	Ref.
Avezzano (2001)	Abruzzo Region	ItalyItaly
Cuautla (Morelos) (2009)	State of Morelos	Mexico Mexico