Cuzco’s rich cultural heritage rooted in the Inca Empire and the Viceroyalty period of Peru is embodied in sites across the city. The city’s attributes that reflect 3,000 years of indigenous and autonomous cultural development in the Peruvian southern Andes anchored the property’s inscription on the World Heritage List in 1983. The ancient Coricancha Inca temple now converted into the Santo Domingo Convent and the neighbourhood of San Blas, where colonial houses were built on the foundations of Inca sites and superimposed with existing constructions, have been strengthened and promoted through cultural activities led by the Municipal Government and the Ministry of Culture of Peru.

While the area surrounding the Plaza de Armas is the favoured location to celebrate Cuzco’s festivities, the San Blas neighbourhood is widely known as the arts and crafts centre of Cuzco. Constituting the historic centre of Cuzco, these two areas are often at the centre of cultural development initiatives. For instance, a Heritage Project for Development was jointly established by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID) and the City Council to halt the deterioration of monuments, and a school workshop was set up focusing on conservation, restoration and rehabilitation of cultural heritage for social development through traditional crafts. The Earth Project was developed to strengthen traditional knowledge for sustainable development, an initiative supported by other city-run projects seeking to safeguard ancestral Andean technologies and ensure the continuity of Cuzco’s living culture.

Source: Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, report for Study Area 8