Most people come to Trujillo to experience the amazing ruins of Chan Chan and/or the Temples of the Sun and the Moon. But the colonial heart of the city’s historic core is equally worthy of a visitor’s attention.
One of the pedestrianised streets in Trujillo’s colonial heart
This impressive gateway once allowed horses and carriages to enter…
… This beautiful courtyard
Trujillo was founded by Spanish conquistadors in 1534 and rapidly became the most important coastal city in Northern Peru. Today it competes with Arequipa for the title of Peru’s second largest city after Lima.
What are Sue and Lina (on the left) looking at?…
… An ornate door knocker
An old cannon reused to protect the corner of this wall from damage
The buildings in the small colonial heart of Trujillo were mostly built by families grown rich on sugar cane and trading. Thankfully, good preservation and recent renovations mean that many of them retain a lot of their original character.
Iglesia La Merced (left) and Supreme Court
Plaza de Armas
View across Plaza de Armas
Personally, there were two things that particularly struck me while walking around Trujillo’s historic centre. Firstly, there were the vibrant colours, authentic to when the buildings were first constructed in colonial times. Secondly, there were all the wonderfully ornate windows, doors and entranceways.
Another stylish colonial-era door
The north side of Plaza de Armas, including the cathedral
Trujillo Cathedral
Thanks to Lina of TrujilloDelPeru.Com for introducing us to Trujillo’s historic streets.
Despite the fact this door leads into what is now a bank, the building behind remains accessible to tourists (sorry the image is a little out of focus)
Inside are wonderful courtyards
This original passageway
A waiting room
And even a bedroom!
This post was inspired by Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, which this week is Doors and Windows, Jennifer’s One Word Photo Challenge, which is Artificial, and Jo’s Monday Walk.
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That hand door knocker looks so life-like. 😕 The cathedral is really beautiful.
We didn’t original plan to spend any time in Trujillo itself, but we were really glad we did.
It’s all wonderfully grand, isn’t it, Jaspa? And a chocolate box of a cathedral. 🙂 Thanks for the link.
It real unexpected treat, Jo!
I especially like the door knocker!
janet
I was taken by the knocker too!
It seems the door knocker is very popular!
There were actually quite a few interesting door knockers, but bizarrely this is the only one Rich took a photo of.
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Definitely 10/10 for the door knocker 🙂 And what a cathedral! Looks like an OTT wedding cake.
From what I’ve seen, Jude, a lot of colonial churches in South America are like that!
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Beautiful shots. What a lovely place.
Thanks, Jennifer!
I loved Trujillo and took of course too many photos. But I find the colonial cities also disturbing, representing colonialism and its necessary corollary, genocide and slavery. It is hard to celebrate unequivocally.