Lampa

Lampa is called the pink city for the colour of the stone and paint on its buildings, a small town at 3,900 metres north-west of Juliaca. Its church, Santiago Apóstol, built from the seventeenth century, contains two unusual things. Beneath it is a crypt whose walls and dome are lined with human bones and skulls, arranged from burials in and around the church - an ossuary of a kind more familiar in Europe than in Peru. Above, under the dome, stands a full-size replica of Michelangelo's Pietà, made with authorisation from the Vatican in the mid-twentieth century using casts taken from the original, installed by Enrique Torres Belón, a local politician and engineer whose own tomb is in the crypt. The town also has a colonial bridge and a plaza, and it gets very few visitors despite being a short drive from Juliaca.

What to look for

• The bone crypt - walls and dome lined with skulls and bones beneath the church.
• The Pietà replica - a full-size authorised cast of the Michelangelo original.
• The pink town - stone and painted buildings at 3,900 metres.
• The church - Santiago Apóstol, seventeenth century, with a decorated interior.

When to go

April to November. Two to three hours. Access to the crypt is guided and the church may be closed outside set hours - ask in the plaza.

Good to know

The crypt contains human remains arranged decoratively, which some find disturbing. Church access depends on a keyholder being available. At 3,900 metres it is very cold. Facilities in town are limited.

Nearby

Juliaca is south-east; Pucará is north on the Cusco road.

Key facts