Church of San Blas, Baroque church building in San Blas district, Cusco, Peru

The Church of San Blas has a rectangular adobe plan, partially reinforced with stone walls after the 1650 earthquake. It has two doors, a main one facing west and a side one facing south toward the Plazoleta de San Blas. The church lacks a tower and instead has a espadaña with a base and three bell bodies.

The church was built in 1544, during the tenure of Cusco's second bishop, Fray Juan Solano, as one of the first five Indian parishes founded by corregidor Juan Polo de Ondegardo on the orders of viceroy Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza. It stands on the site of an Inca sanctuary to Illapa, god of lightning, in the former quarter of T'oqokachi. After the 1650 earthquake its adobe walls were partly reinforced with stone. It is considered Cusco's oldest parish.

The church stands in the San Blas neighborhood, long known as the home of local craftspeople who still run small workshops in the surrounding streets. On Sundays, residents gather outside the stone doorway before and after Mass, giving the place a strong sense of community.

San Blas sits on a hill above central Cusco, and the streets leading to the church are steep and paved with uneven stone. Comfortable shoes are a must, and a morning visit tends to give better natural light inside the building.

The pulpit is carved from cedar in the Spanish Churrigueresque style and is attributed to the Indigenous architect and sculptor Juan Tomás Tuyro Túpac; it was paid for by Bishop Manuel de Mollinedo y Angulo. The church has no tower: its bells hang in a three-tier espadaña.