Barrio Santa Ana Ayacucho

Santa Ana is the artisan barrio of Ayacucho, on the hill south of the centre around a small sixteenth-century church, and it is where the city's tapestry weaving is concentrated. Families - the Sulca and Oncebay names among the best known - work on upright looms producing large wool tapestries dyed with cochineal, indigo and plant sources, in designs that range from Wari-derived geometry, drawn from the pre-Inca textiles excavated nearby, to figurative work and pieces addressing the political violence of the 1980s and 1990s that hit Ayacucho harder than anywhere in Peru. Several workshops function as galleries with the weavers present, and retablo makers and stone carvers work in the same streets. The square outside the church has a viewpoint over the city. It is a working neighbourhood, and the standard advice about walking uphill at 2,760 metres applies.

What you actually see

• The tapestry looms - large upright frames with natural-dyed wool.
• The designs - Wari-derived geometry alongside figurative and political work.
• The galleries - workshops where the weavers themselves show and sell.
• The church square - a sixteenth-century church with a view over the city.

When to go

Year-round. Two to three hours. Weekdays for finding weavers at work. Holy Week fills the quarter with buyers.

Honest expectations

Serious tapestries are expensive and take weeks to weave; cheap versions are machine-assisted. Workshops are homes and hours vary. The climb from the centre is steep at 2,760 metres. Little English is spoken.

Nearby

Central Ayacucho and its churches are downhill; Quinua and Wari are east.