Iglesia San Juan Bautista de Yanahuara, Colonial church in Yanahuara District, Peru

Iglesia San Juan Bautista de Yanahuara is a church in Yanahuara District, Arequipa, built of white volcanic stone from the nearby quarries. It has a single nave with a barrel vault, a square bell tower, and a facade carved with floral motifs and cherub faces. The side portal and the high choir arch date from the mid-18th century.

The church was completed in 1750 under the patronage of the Yanahuara estate, built entirely of white volcanic sillar stone. It keeps its mid-18th-century high choir arch and main portal, and its name recalls the older dedication San Juan Bautista de la Chumba de Yanahuara.

Locals call the church "la Chumba de Yanahuara", a name tied to the district's pre-Hispanic past. The facade niches hold Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Dominic of Guzmán, and the carved cherub faces on the columns wear feather headdresses, an indigenous motif worked into the colonial stonework.

The church stands on the Plaza de Yanahuara, a short walk from the Mirador de Yanahuara and its sillar arches. The atrium and entrance are reached from the square; the interior is entered through the main portal. Visitors usually combine it with the viewpoint, so mornings are busier.

Look closely at the carved cherub faces on the columns: several wear feather headdresses, a motif tied to pre-Hispanic authority rather than to European angel iconography. The church was finished in 1750, and these carvings sit alongside the floral motifs of the facade, so the two traditions appear on the same building.