Iglesia de la Merced, Colonial chapel in Huancayo, Peru

Iglesia de la Merced is a colonial chapel featuring a single nave layout and neoclassical main altar. The building holds lateral altars within its space and displays a bell tower that rises prominently above the entrance.

Built in 1809 as a simple colonial chapel with a single nave, atrium and bell tower, it served as Huancayo's main temple after the old Church of the Santísima Trinidad decayed and before the new Iglesia Matriz was finished in 1831. In 1839, under Agustín Gamarra, it hosted Peru's Constituent Congress, which signed the constitution of that year. It was declared a National Historic Monument by Law No. 8054, published on 26 March 1935.

Four side altars hold the images the congregation venerates: two baroque altars sheathed in gold leaf, two neoclassical. They honour the Señor del Triunfo, carried in procession each Palm Sunday, Santa Rosa de Lima, San Martín de Porres and Santa Cecilia, patron of musicians. The 19th-century image of Nuestra Señora de la Merced stands on the main altar.

The chapel sits at the intersection of Jiron Ayacucho and Calle Real, just two blocks from Constitution Square. Its location in the monumental zone of the city makes it easy to reach on foot from nearby streets.

The baptismal font beside the presbytery bears the inscription "En esta fuente ha renacido el pueblo Huanca a la gracia". Above it, a window holds a sculpture of Jesus being baptised by John the Baptist.