3001 PERU (Arequipa) - Historical Centre of the City of Arequipa (UNESCO WHS)

3001 Basilica Cathedral of Arequipa and volcano Misti

Founded in 1540 in a valley that had been intensively farmed by pre-Hispanic communities, Arequipa was highly important during the Colonial period, and after Peru gained its independence from Spain, was declared the capital city of Peru from 1835 to 1883. The historic centre of Arequipa, built in volcanic sillar rock (white and pink), represents an integration of European and native building techniques and characteristics, expressed in the work of colonial masters and Criollo and Indian masons, the result being a unique style called Escuela Arequipeña.

1122 PERU (Puno) - Lake Titicaca (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List) and its floating islands

Located in the Andes, on the border of Peru and Bolivia, Titicaca (Titiqaqa in Quechua) covers 8,300 square km and is the largest lake in South America, and also the highest navigable lake in the world, with a surface elevation of 3,812m. Its waters are limpid and only slightly brackish, and the surface temperatures average is 14°C. The lake averages between 140 and 180m in depth, reaching its greatest recorded depth of 280 m off Isla Soto in the lake's northeast corner. It holds large populations of water birds and was designated as a Ramsar Site on August 26, 1998. Several threatened species are largely or entirely restricted to the lake. In addition, approximately 90% of the fish species in the basin are endemic.

1107 PERU (Cusco) - A Quechua mother with her children on the Sacred Valley of the Incas

As it is known, the territory of present Peru was the heart of the Inca Empire, the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. It had a short life of only about 100 years, but at peak it included a population estimated between 4 and 37 million people, from 100 different cultures and speaking at least 20 languages. Since 1438 the official language of the empire was Quechua. After the Spanish Conquest, the local population decreased to around 600,000 in 1620, and Spaniards and Africans arrived in large numbers. Gradual European immigration followed independence, and many Chinese arrived in the 1850s, replacing slave workers. As result, today Peru is a multiethnic country, but despite all these, 46% of the population is Amerindian. The two major indigenous ethnic groups are the Quechuas (belonging to various cultural subgroups), followed by the Aymaras. A large proportion of the indigenous population who live in the Andean highlands still speak Quechua or Aymara, and have vibrant cultural traditions, some of which were part of the Inca Empire.

0616 PERU (Cusco) - Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu (UNESCO WHS)

"Dimly I began to realize that this wall and its adjoining semicircular temple over the cave were as fine as the finest stonework in the world. It fairly took my breath away. What could this place be?" wrote Hiram Bingham III in the book Lost City of the Incas, published in 1948, after 37 years of the discovery of the fabulous Machu Picchu. Even now, after another 66 years, it isn't known why was built this city, that was its goal, and why was abandoned.