Iglesia San Juan Bautista de Vilcashuamán, Colonial church in Vilcashuamán, Peru.

The iglesia San Juan Bautista de Vilcashuamán is a colonial church in the Peruvian highlands featuring twin towers with baroque ornamentation and a carved stone portal. The exterior walls display multiple levels of trapezoidal openings built with precisely fitted stonework typical of the region.

Spanish conquistadors built this church in the late 16th century directly atop the foundations of an Inca temple dedicated to the sun and moon. This deliberate placement reflects the colonial strategy of replacing indigenous sacred sites with Christian religious structures.

Inside, the walls carry painted designs of amarus, serpent figures from Andean tradition, beside a neoclassical main altarpiece with statues of saints. Six niches line the interior, with the image of the Virgen del Carmen at the centre, a wooden pulpit to the left and side altarpieces on both sides.

The church stands south of Vilcashuamán's main square, framed by carved stone columns and a brick tympanum along the nave. Its stone towers rise in three sections, the lowest square and barely decorated, supporting a two-level belfry with semicircular arches and a dome flanked by four corner pinnacles. Inside, six niches line the walls, with the image of the Virgin of Carmen at the centre, a wooden pulpit to the left and side altarpieces.

The exterior walls retain three levels of trapezoidal niches from the original Inca structures beneath the building. These preserved features remain visible today and serve as a record of the pre-Spanish architecture on which the church was constructed.