The Historical Archive of the Sanctuary of Cocharcas:

History, documentary cataloging and paleographic transcription

Abstract

The town of Cocharcas was built in one of the most important Sanctuaries of Peru. This Sanctuary was an important point for travelers during the colony because interconnected cities like Huancavelica-Huamanga-Andahuaylas and Cusco, clearly marking the “silver road” andreusing the Chinchaysuyo Inca Trail. Thus, Cocharcas -located between the borders of Huamanga and Andahuaylas- became a center of religious and economic activities, for the devotion and pilgrimage and articulated through its Sanctuary and its main invocation: Our Lady of Cocharcas. It is through this social, cultural and religious dynamics that information has accumulated throughout the centuries of great historical and cultural value in this Sanctuary, which required adequate custody because it ran the risk of being lost without being known.