Plaza de Armas in Cusco. Cathedral on the left and the Church of the Company of Jesus on the right.

The Plaza de Armas the center of solemn parades and great assemblies since Inca times. The Cathedral, built on the place where once stood the palace of Inca Wiracocha, mixes Spanish Renaissance architecture with beautiful stone-work. Its construction began in 1580 and took approximately one century to complete.

La Compania Church, also in the Plaza de Armas, built in 1571 by the Jesuits at the time of the foundation of Inca Wayna Capac's palace (the last ruler of the unconquered empire). The church was destroyed by the 1650 earthquake, beginning immediately a magnificent reconstruction, resulting in the most ornate and splendid church in Cusco.