Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Monserrat
Baroque church interior painted top to bottom with murals blending Catholic scenes and Andean symbols.
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About this audio guide
This guide to the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Monserrat in Cusco centers on Diego Cusi Huamán, a Quechua muralist who painted the sanctuary walls between 1603 and 1607 for a parish priest remembered only as licenciado Mejía. Alongside a Coronation of the Virgin and swirling European-style grotesques, Cusi Huamán tucked away a signature and an honorific no indigenous painter was expected to claim in that era. The guide also follows other local hands who covered the church in Catholic and Andean imagery, including a later canvas of a dark-skinned Virgin by Francisco Chihuantito. Look up into the presbytery to find the corner where the story is written.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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