The Basilica Cathedral of Arequipa is the building that has spent the most time overlooking the Plaza de Armas from the same spot. It has been on the north side of the square since 1540, the year the city was founded, and although what you see today is not the same building from that first year but the result of centuries of reconstruction after earthquakes and fires, its position has never changed. That permanence in the same place for nearly five centuries makes the Cathedral more than a religious building: it is the fixed point around which Arequipa built its urban identity.
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History: from 1540 to the 2001 earthquake
The first construction on that site dates to the same year the city was founded, when the colonizers reserved the north side of the Plaza de Armas for the main Catholic temple according to colonial urban tradition. That first church was modest and was expanded and rebuilt repeatedly throughout the 16th century. The most ambitious version began construction in 1621 and was not completed until 1656, when the cathedral was formally consecrated as the seat of the Diocese of Arequipa.
What followed was a history of destruction and reconstruction that repeated with a regularity that says more about the region’s seismic activity than about the fragility of the building. The earthquakes of 1583, 1590, 1600, 1604, and 1666 caused successive damage that was repaired each time. In 1844, a fire destroyed much of the cathedral and forced a complete reconstruction led by architect Lucas Poblete, giving it the neo-Renaissance appearance that defines its current façade. In 1868, another earthquake caused severe damage. In 1985, Pope John Paul II visited the cathedral, which at that time remained one of the great religious monuments of the Andean Peru. In 2001, the most recent earthquake completely collapsed one of the two towers of the façade, which was rebuilt and reopened in 2002.
This history is not a sequence of calamities but the story of a city that chose to rebuild the same building in the same place every time the earth brought it down. That repeated decision over four centuries says something about Arequipa that no architectural description can convey in the same way.
The façade: seventy sillar columns
The Cathedral’s façade occupies the entire north side of the Plaza de Armas with a horizontality that no other building in the area has. Seventy columns with Corinthian capitals are distributed along the front divided into three portals and two lateral arches. At the ends, the two Renaissance towers give verticality to the composition without breaking the balance of the horizontal structure.
The material is white sillar extracted from the quarries of the Chili River valley and from the slopes of the volcanoes surrounding Arequipa. Under the midday sun, that stone reflects light with an intensity that makes photographs difficult to expose correctly. At sunrise and sunset, when the low light hits the columns from the sides, the relief of the capitals and moldings is emphasized with shadows that the overhead midday light flattens.
One of the towers has an English clock installed during the episcopate of Goyeneche in 1842, whose presence on an Arequipeño colonial façade is an anachronism that locals have come to incorporate into the landscape without much concern.
The interior of the Cathedral has three naves separated by sillar pillars with sculptures of the twelve apostles attached. The central nave is considerably wider than the side aisles and is covered with a sail vault divided by transverse arches. The main altar is made of Carrara marble brought from Italy and features a neo-Gothic pulpit carved in oak wood, crafted in France in the 19th century.
The most impressive element inside is the organ. Manufactured in Belgium by the Loret company and installed in the 19th century, it stands 12 meters tall, has 1,206 pipes, and is the second largest organ in South America. Its presence in the central nave visually dominates the space from any point inside. On Saturdays, organ performances allow visitors to hear it in operation, an experience that combines the acoustic space of the sillar vaults with the scale of the instrument in a way no recording can reproduce.
The stained glass windows filter the exterior light and project a variation of colors onto the interior sillar that changes throughout the day. The quality of light inside the Cathedral of Arequipa, a combination of the pale sillar and filtered stained glass light, is one of its least mentioned yet most effective attractions for those who enter without rushing and allow their eyes to adjust.
The Cathedral Museum
The museum is inside the Cathedral building, with access through the side portal on Calle Santa Catalina. It was created in 2010 as part of the celebrations for the 400th anniversary of the Diocese of Arequipa and has four rooms that explore different aspects of the heritage accumulated by the Cathedral throughout its history.
The two Cathedral Treasury rooms contain the most valuable pieces in the collection: crowns, monstrances, and liturgical objects made of silver and gold from the 17th to the 19th centuries. The most famous piece is La Moratilla, a monstrance over one and a half meters tall crafted by Spanish silversmith Francisco de Moratilla, which holds the consecrated host for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. It features precious stone inlays and intricate filigree work, making it one of the most elaborate pieces of religious goldsmithing from colonial Peru.
Among the most unique relics in the museum is the vestment made with silver and gold threads of Monsignor Sebastián Goyeneche, Archbishop of Arequipa in 1818, which in addition to its value as a liturgical object also has historical significance as a reference to the level of craftsmanship that existed in Arequipa during the Independence period. The marriage certificate of Colonel Francisco Bolognesi, hero of the War of the Pacific, dated to the 18th century, is also preserved.
The Vestments and Textiles room displays chasubles, stoles, and garments embroidered with gold and silver threads that illustrate the textile tradition of colonial sacred art. The Religious Paintings room features canvases from the Cusco School and works by Arequipeño artist Francisco Laso from the 19th century, which are the most important for the history of Peruvian art within the collection.
Admission to the museum includes access to the north tower, from which there are views over the Plaza de Armas, the historic center, and the three volcanoes surrounding the city. The climb involves narrow stairs that require good mobility, but the perspective from above justifies the effort for those able to make it.
Hours and prices
Visiting the Cathedral as a place of worship is free. Tourist access hours are Monday to Saturday from 7 to 10 in the morning and from 5 to 7:30 in the evening. On Sundays, from 7 in the morning to 1 in the afternoon and from 5 to 7 in the evening. During Mass, tourist access is restricted, so it is best to arrive at the beginning of visiting hours to ensure a complete visit without interruptions.
The Cathedral Museum is open Monday to Saturday from 10 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon. It is closed on Sundays. Admission costs 10 soles for adults and 5 soles for students with a valid ID. Access to the tower is included in the museum ticket. The guided tour service has an additional cost of approximately 5 soles, and the full guided visit lasts between 40 and 45 minutes.
How much time to spend and how to combine it
A visit to the Cathedral interior alone takes between 20 and 30 minutes at a relaxed pace. With the museum and tower climb, total time is between one hour and one and a half hours. The Cathedral is in the Plaza de Armas, and from there the Church of the Company of Jesus is less than two minutes away on foot, and the Monastery of Santa Catalina is five minutes away. These three sites combined in one morning cover the most important parts of Arequipa’s historic center without the need for any transportation.
The best time for photographing the façade is between 7 and 9 in the morning when light enters from the east and the columns have lateral shadow. For interior photography, midday light coming through the stained glass produces the most intense color effects on the sillar.
Peru Sites includes Arequipa in southern Peru itineraries before continuing on to Cusco and Machu Picchu. Contact us with your travel dates.