The Huari empire was established in this zone and extended its borderlines to Cusco; it was the Inca Pachacutec who conquered them. Later, Viracocha baptized this zone with the name of Huamanga. When the spanish conquerors found it, in 1540, they called it San Juan de la Frontera. In 1825 Simón Bolívar renamed this town as Ayacucho, in memory of the battle of the same name fought in the “Pampa de la Quinua”.
Ayacucho, a pleasant mountain town, preserves its constructions of the colonial period, famous for their celebration of the Holy Week and its beautiful temples, manor houses and its varied folk art, product of the syncretism between the indigenous and the colonial.