Arequipa Cathedral

It occupies the north side of the Plaza de Armas. It has a neoclassical façade and is composed of three doorways, two side arches, seventy columns with Corinthian capitals, and two Renaissance towers. The construction of this church—whose history is fraught with events—began in 1544. Successive earthquakes, however, plagued it until a fire finally ruined it in 1844. Its reconstruction, which began immediately and was completed in 1850, was led by Bishop Goyeneche y Barreda, who also commissioned the manufacture of the Carrara marble and bronze high altar to Felipe de Moratillo, son of Federico de Moratillo, the jeweler to the Queen of Spain. He also made the famous monstrance of solid gold, filigree, and precious stones that this great temple boasts to this day.