With
glaciated peaks and significant trekking country close to
the city, Huaraz
is dominated by the prospect of mountaineering,
and the city's only real tourist attraction is the Ancash Archeological
Museum , on Avenida Luzuriaga 762, facing the modern Plaza
de Armas (Mon-Sat 8.30am-6.30pm & Sun 9am-noon).
Fronting attractive, landscaped gardens, this small but interesting
place
contains a superb collection of Chavín, Chimu, Wari,
Moche and Recauy ceramics, as well as some expertly trepanned
skulls.
It also displays an abundance of the finely chiselled stone
monoliths typical of this mountain region, most of them products
of the
Recuay and Chavín cultures. One of its most curious
exhibits is a goniometro, an early version of the surveyor's
theodolite,
probably over a thousand years old and used for finding alignments
and exact ninety-degree angles in building construction. On
the other side of the Plaza de Armas from the museum is the
Cathedral
(daily 7am-7pm; free). Completely rebuilt after being destroyed
in the 1970 earthquake, it has nothing special to see inside,
but its vast blue-tiled roof makes a good landmark and, if
you look closely, appears to mirror one of the glaciated mountain
peaks, the Nevado Huanstán (6395m), behind. Also close
to the Plaza de Armas, the Banco Wiese has a Sala Cultural
where they rotate exhibitions of photos or artwork, mainly
relevant
to the city or region (Mon-Fri 9am-1pm & 4.30-6.30pm; free).
The only other museum to merit a brief visit is the Museo de
Miniaturas del Peru (Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm), in the gardens
of the Gran Hotel Huascarán, which contains an interesting
collection of pre-Hispanic art from the Huaraz region and a
range of local folk art and crafts, including the fine red
Callejón
de Huaylas ceramics. It also displays a small model of Yungay
prior to the entire town being buried under a mudslide caused
by the 1970 earthquake. Hostels in Huaraz |
ROOMS PERU
