Cathedral of Arequipa is one of the oldest religious buildings in the city. The first church was built in 1544 by architect Peter Godinez under the patronage of the Bishop of Cuzco, Don Fray Vicente de Velarde. In 1583 an earthquake destroyed the temple. In 1590 the church building was restored, but not for long. In 1600, due to the volcanic eruption Huaynaputina, the church was partially destroyed again. At the beginning of the XVII century, Pope Paul V established the Diocese of Arequipa, and in place of the old church from 1621 to 1656 were built the cathedral. After a severe fire in 1844 the building of the cathedral were able to restore the architect Lucas Poblete and with the support of Bishop Jose Sebastian de Goyenesh and Barreda in 1868.

In June 2001, the city of Arequipa was damaged by an earthquake 8, 1 on the Richter scale. One tower of the cathedral was completely destroyed, the nave, the vaults and the second tower was severely damaged. A year later, in its anniversary, the Cathedral completely rebuilt under the direction of Juan Manuel Guillen.

Cathedral is built of treated volcanic stone and brick in the Neo-Renaissance with some Gothic influence. The main temple of the city situated on the north side of the Plaza de Armas, the historic center of Arequipa. Its facade is composed of seventy columns with Corinthian capitals, three doors and two large lateral arches.

The altar of the temple is made of Carrara marble, the work of Felipe Maratillo. Unique chair of carved oak made the French artist Rigo beads from Lille. In the museum of the Cathedral stores precious works of art produced in Spain by the artist-jeweler Francisco Maratillo, silver crown Elizabeth II and many other artifacts donated by the council of bishops Goyeneshem and his family.