Sights in Trujillo
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Chan Chan
Built around AD 1300 and covering 28 sq km (17 sq mi), Chan Chan is the largest pre-Columbian city in the Americas, and the largest adobe city in the world. At the height of the Chimu Empire, it housed an estimated 60,000 inhabitants and contained a vast wealth of gold, silver and ceramics. The wealth remained undisturbed after the city was conquered by the Incas, but once the Spaniards hit the stage the looting began.
Within a few decades, little but gold dust remained. Although Chan Chan must have once been a dazzling sight, El Niño floods and heavy rainfall have severely eroded the mud walls. Today, the most impressive aspect of the site is its sheer size.
The Chimu c…
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Plaza de Armas
Trujillo's spacious and fetching main square hosts an impressive statue dedicated to work, the arts and liberty. The plaza is fronted by the cathedral, begun in 1647, destroyed in 1759, and rebuilt soon afterward. The cathedral has a famous basilica and a museum of religious and colonial art.
At 08:00 on Sunday there is a flag-raising ceremony on the Plaza de Armas, complete with a parade. On some Sundays there are also caballos de paso (pacing horses) and performances of the marinera (a typical coastal Peruvian dance involving much romantic waving of handkerchiefs).
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Museo Cassinelli
The Museo Cassinelli is a private archaeological collection housed in the basement of a gas station. The museum is fascinating, with hundreds of pieces that certainly don’t belong under a gritty petrol dispensary. Have a look at the bird-shaped whistling pots, which produce clear notes when air is blown into them (ask the curator to show you). Superficially the pots are very similar, but when they are blown each produces a completely different note that corresponds to the calls of the male and female birds.
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Palacio Iturregui
The canary yellow 19th-century mansion Palacio Iturregui is unmistakable and impossible to ignore unless you’re color-blind. Built in neoclassical style, it has beautiful window gratings, slender interior columns and gold moldings on the ceilings. General Juan Manuel Iturregui lived here after he famously proclaimed independence.
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Casa Ganoza Chopitea
Casa Ganoza Chopitea, also known as Casa de los Léones, is considered to be the best mansion of the colonial period in Trujillo. The tourist police are housed here. Good contemporary Peruvian art is sometimes shown here, as are some rather arcane pieces that you may never have a chance to see elsewhere. Hours vary.
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Museo de Arqueología
The Museo de Arqueología displays a rundown of Peruvian history from 12,000 BC to the present day. There’s also a small but interesting collection of artifacts from the Huaca de la Luna. The museum is housed in La Casa Risco, a restored 17th-century mansion.
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Iglesia de la Merced
The Iglesia de la Merced , built in the 17th century, has a striking organ and cupola. Uniquely, an altar here is painted on the wall, an economical shortcut when funds ran out for a more traditional gold or carved-wood alternative.
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Museo de Zoología
Museo de Zoología, just west of the Plaza de Armas, is mainly a taxidermic collection of Peruvian animals (many so artificially stuffed they look like nightmarish caricatures of their former selves).
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Casa de la Emancipación
Now the Banco Continental building, the Casa de la Emancipación is where Trujillo’s independence from colonial rule was formally declared on December 29, 1820.
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Casona Orbegoso
Casona Orbegoso, named after a former president of Peru, is a beautiful 18th-century manor with a collection of well-worn art and period furnishings.
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Casa de Urquiaga
An elegant colonial mansion , the Casa de Urquiaga, belongs to the Banco Central de la Reserva del Perú.
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Iglesia de San Agustín
Iglesia de San Agustín has a finely gilded high altar and dates from 1558. Further southwest is Iglesia de Belén.
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Iglesia del Carmen
Colonial art enthusiasts will not want to miss the Carmelite museum in the Iglesia del Carmen.
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Iglesia de Santo Domingo
Iglesia de Santo Domingo is an interesting church near the Plaza de Armas.
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Iglesia de Santa Ana
Iglesia de Santa Anais an interesting church near the Plaza de Armas.
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Iglesia de la Compañia
Iglesia de la Compañia is an interesting church near the Plaza de Armas.
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