Fodor's Expert Review Templo y Plazoleta de San Blas

Cusco Plaza/Square

The little square in San Blas has a simple adobe church with one of the jewels of colonial art in the Americas—the pulpit of San Blas, an intricately carved 17th-century cedar pulpit, arguably Latin America's most ornate. Tradition holds that the work was hewn from a single tree trunk, but experts now believe it was assembled from 1,200 individually carved pieces. Figures of Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Henry VIII—all opponents of Catholicism—as well as those representing the seven deadly sins are condemned for eternity to hold up the pulpit's base. The work is dominated by the triumphant figure of Christ. At his feet rests a human skull, not carved, but the real thing. It's thought to belong to Juan Tomás Tuyrutupac, the creator of the pulpit.

Plaza/Square

Quick Facts

Plazoleta de San Blas
Cusco, Cusco  Peru

084-254–057

Sight Details:
Rate Includes: S/15; S/40 combined entrance with the Catedral and the Museo de Arte Relgioso, S/15; S/30 combined entrance with Catedral and Museo de Arte Relgioso

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