Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
( 9am-1pm & 3-6pm Tue-Sat, 9am-1pm Sun)
The Ransom Chamber is the only Inca
building still standing in Cajamarca. Although it's called the Ransom Chamber, the room
shown to visitors is actually where Atahualpa was imprisoned, not where the ransom was
stored. The small room has three trapezoidal doorways and a few similarly shaped niches
in the inner walls - signature Inca construction. Although well built, the chamber does not
compare with the Inca buildings in the Cuzco area. In the entrance to the site are a couple
of modern paintings depicting Atahualpa's capture and imprisonment. The stone of the
building is weathered and has only recently been covered by a large protective dome.
The S5 ticket to El Cuarto del Rescate includes El Complejo de Belén and Museo de
Etnografía if they are all visited on the same day.
Cathedral
( 7-8am & 6:30-7:30pm Mon-Sat, 7-8am, 10-11am & 6:30-7:30pm Sun)
The Catedral
de Cajamarca is a squat building that was begun in the late 17th century and only recently
finished. Like most of Cajamarca's churches, this cathedral has no belfry. This is because
the Spanish Crown levied a tax on finished churches and so the belfries were not built,
leaving the church unfinished and thereby avoiding the tax. Unfortunately, due to a 2010
robbery of the crowns of some saints, it is no longer open outside mass.
CHURCH
Museo de Arqueológico & Etnografía
( 9am-1pm & 3-6pm Tue-Sat, 9am-1pm Sun)
This small, sparsely filled museum
housed inside the Antigua Hospital de Mujeres, just a few meters from El Complejo de
Belén, has limited exhibits of local costumes and clothing, domestic and agricultural im-
plements, musical instruments and crafts made from wood, bone, leather and stone, as
well as other examples of Cajamarca culture. Large-scale photographs and modern art in-
terpretations illustrate traditional lives of the district's farmers.
MUSEUM
Cerro Santa Apolonia
(admission S1; 7:30am-6pm)
This garden-covered viewpoint, overlooking the city
from the southwest, is a prominent Cajamarca landmark. It is easily reached by climbing
the stairs at the end of Calle 2 de Mayo and walking paths spiral around the whole hilltop.
The pre-Hispanic carved rocks at the summit are mainly from the Inca period, but some
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