3 Best Sights in Huanuco, The Central Highlands

The Iglesia La Merced was built circa 1566 in a simple Renaissance style with Romanesque accents, reportedly at the behest of the missionary friar Diego de Porras. Colonial treasures here include a silver tabernacle, paintings of the Cusco School, and the images of the Virgen Purísima and the Corazón de Jesús that were gifts from Spain's King Philip II.

Fronting a landscape of steep, grassy mountain slopes, the Iglesia San Cristóbal was erected in 1542, making it the first local church built by Spanish settlers. Inside is a valuable collection of colonial-era paintings and baroque wood sculptures of San Agustín, the Virgen de la Asunción, and the Virgen Dolorosa. Sadly, the church's three-tiered bell tower collapsed in 2014; reconstruction work commenced in March 2024. 

The 16th-century Iglesia San Francisco, the city's second-oldest church, has unusual, icinglike scrollwork on its yellow-brick Renaissance facade and bell gables. Peek inside to see the spectacular gilt altarpiece and a handful of Cusco School paintings.