Ayacucho Cathedral, Baroque cathedral in Plaza de Armas of Ayacucho, Peru

Ayacucho Cathedral is a Baroque church built in the 17th century on the main square of Ayacucho, in the Huamanga Province of Peru. It is made of pink and gray stone and has two rear towers, a multi-entrance facade, and an interior covered by sixteen high vaults that meet at an octagonal dome.

King Philip III of Spain ordered the cathedral's construction by royal decree on 5 July 1612, dedicated to the Virgin of the Snows. Bishop Francisco Verdugo began the building in 1632, and work lasted forty years, ending in 1672. It replaced the parish church of San Juan Bautista, built in 1540, which had stood on the same site.

The cathedral is dedicated to the Virgin of the Snows, whose image stands in the main altarpiece, commissioned by Bishop Francisco Matienzo Bravo del Rivero y Abarca. On Easter Sunday at dawn, the procession of the Risen Christ sets out from here, ending Holy Week. Around the dome base, the four Evangelists are accompanied by symbols, including an Andean condor for St. John.

The main facade has three arched doors, not four; a fourth arched door opens on the north side. The south tower is stone, the north tower brick and lime. The Risen Christ procession leaves from here at dawn on Easter Sunday, so the square fills early that day.

On the upper part of the bell in the left tower, two small carved figures look out over the city, easy to miss from the square below. Inside, the four evangelists around the dome's base are each paired with a sign: a man for Matthew, a lion for Mark, a bull for Luke, and an Andean condor for John.