San Blas is Cusco's artisan quarter — a steep hillside neighbourhood of narrow cobblestone streets, whitewashed houses with blue doors, and the studios of the ceramic artists, painters, woodcarvers, and weavers who have made this district the creative heart of the city since the colonial period. The neighbourhood climbs from the Plaza de Armas up toward Sacsayhuamán, and the increasing altitude (and the corresponding increasing breathlessness) is rewarded by views across the rooftops to the mountains.
The Iglesia de San Blas contains the most famous pulpit in Peru — a single piece of carved cedar depicting an extraordinary scene of cherubs, vines, and faces that is attributed to an unknown indigenous carver and is considered a masterpiece of colonial Andean art. The pulpit's style — combining European Baroque forms with indigenous sensibility — is characteristic of the Cusco School of art, which produced a distinctive fusion of Spanish and Andean visual traditions.
The San Blas streets contain small galleries and workshops where artists work in view of visitors — the Mendivil family (famous for their elongated-neck religious figures), the Merida family (woodcarving), and the Olave family (ceramic) have been working in San Blas for generations. The Saturday craft market on the small plaza is the most authentic artisan market in Cusco, and the cafés that have opened in the restored colonial houses provide the most atmospheric coffee-drinking in the city.
Verified Facts
San Blas is Cusco's traditional artisan quarter
The San Blas church contains Peru's most famous colonial pulpit
The Cusco School of art fused European Baroque and Andean traditions
The Mendivil family is famous for elongated-neck religious figures
Get walking directions
San Blas, Cusco
