Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sucre
In a broad highland valley on the Altiplano's eastern edge, about 162km north of Potosí,
SUCRE
is Bolivia's most refined and beautiful city. Known at various times as Chuquisaca,
Charcas and La Ciudad de la Plata - and thus also as “The City of Four Names” - it has some
of the finest Spanish colonial architecture in South America, and enjoys a spring-like climate
all year round, thanks to its setting at an altitude of 2790m.
The centre of Spanish power in Alto Peru, Sucre was made
capital of Bolivia
after inde-
pendence, a status it retains today, although all real power has long since passed to La Paz.
The city exudes the sense of being frozen in time somewhere back in the late nineteenth
century. Although the courtly manners and conservatism of the old aristocratic families who
dominate Sucre can seem stuffy and pompous, it's nicely tempered by the youthful vitality
the city enjoys as home of one of the Americas' oldest universities.
Laid out in a classic grid pattern, the city is an architectural jewel, with splendid churches,
monasteries andmansions.The
historic centre
,aUNESCOWorldHeritage Site,isprotected
by strict building codes, and as a result most of it has been preserved as it was a century ago.
Municipal regulations require all buildings to be whitewashed once a year, maintaining the
characteristic that earned Sucre another of its many grandiose titles: “La Ciudad Blanca de
Las Americas” - “The White City of the Americas”.
Sucre is also the market centre for a mountainous rural hinterland inhabited by Quechua-
speaking indigenous communities that are renowned for their beautiful
weavings
; their work
can be seen at Sucre's stunning
Museo de Arte Indigena
, or on a day-trip to
Tarabuco
, a
rural town about 60km to the southeast.
