Conjunto Monumental Belén

It is a church and a former hospital built around a courtyard, put up through the eighteenth century. The facade carries the dense carving the local workshops became known for, columns, foliage and faces worked into volcanic rock soft enough to cut freely, and it is lit at night, which is when most of the photographs of it are taken and when the relief reads most strongly. Inside, the church is domed and heavily decorated. The courtyard is arcaded, with a stone fountain at the centre.

The complex now houses the city's archaeological and ethnographic collections, which is the other reason to go: the material covering the pre-Inca cultures of the region gives context to Cumbemayo, Otuzco and Cuntur Wasi that is hard to get at the sites themselves. The former men's and women's hospital buildings are part of the visit.

One to two hours, year-round, in the centre at 2,750 metres and a few streets from the Plaza de Armas. Go here before the outlying archaeological sites rather than after, if the order is yours to choose. Opening hours and which wings are accessible vary, and that is worth confirming locally on the day rather than relying on a guide written at a distance.