City Tour (CJA H100)
The city of Cajamarca offers its visitors lovely churches, representing diverse religious orders, built during the part of the colonial era from the 17th century through middle of the 18th. Visitors can appreciate the Church of San Antonio de Padua (also known as the San Francisco Church), the Santa Catalina Church, or the Cathedral of Cajamarca. The Belen (Bethlehem) Monument Complex, which includes the Church of Our lady of Piety, is quite possibly the most interesting example of Cajamarcan architecture to be found, with its carved rock expression of the fusion of the Andean and Spanish cultures.
The Cuarto del Rescate, or Ransom Room, is the last vestige of Inca influence that has been preserved in Cajamarca, but is nonetheless one of the most important archeological treasures in northern Peru. True, this small enclosure served physically as the storage room for the gold and silver treasures offered by the Incas in exchange for the freedom of their Emperor, the Inca Atahualpa. But in the larger sense, it represents the end of one of the most important and distinct cultural epochs in human history, and the beginning of the colonization and cultural transformation of Peru. (3h)