109 km / 68 miles south of Huaraz (3 hours and 30 minutes by car) It was built around 1200 B.C. and discovered by Julio C. Tello in 1919. UNESCO placed it on the World Cultural Heritage List in 1985. The complex includes ceremonial rooms and pyramidal structures built of massive stone blocks. The OldTemple has a group of subterranean galleries that open an access way to the Room of the Lanzon, an impressive stone knife-like sculpture. This sculpture is 4.5-meter high (15 feet) and has been carefully carved with feline, bird and snake patterns, characteristic of the Chavin iconography. |
