🇻🇪 Venezuela · The Andes
Trujillo, capital of the state of the same name, is one of the colonial jewels of the Venezuelan Andes: a mountain city wedged into a narrow valley, with steep streets, red-tiled houses, old churches and real historical weight. Founded in the 16th century, it keeps the flavor of the old Andean towns and a historic center made for unhurried walking.
But what has made Trujillo known worldwide is the imposing Monumento a la Virgen de la Paz, a colossal statue of the Virgin raised on a hill outside the city and considered one of the tallest in the Americas. From the viewing platforms inside it you get an extraordinary panorama of the Andes, the valleys and the city itself at your feet. Add to that Trujillo's historical importance: this is where Simón Bolívar signed the famous Decree of War to the Death in 1813.
This guide brings together the essentials of Trujillo with a practical eye: how to get there (usually via Valera), what to see in the colonial city and at the Monumento a la Virgen de la Paz, the historic sites, how to get around and where to eat and sleep. It's a destination for anyone who wants to combine Andean landscapes, history, devotion and some of the best views in the Venezuelan cordillera.
Trujillo was founded in 1557 by Captain Diego García de Paredes, during the Spanish push into the Venezuelan Andes, on territory inhabited by Andean Indigenous peoples (of Timoto-Cuica tradition and neighboring groups). The city had an unusual history: because of conflicts, attacks and difficulties, it was moved and refounded several times in different locations before finally settling in the valley where it stands today, which earned it the nickname of the 'portable city'. In colonial times it was an Andean farming and religious center, with convents and churches. Its most famous moment came on 15 June 1813, when Simón Bolívar, in the middle of the War of Independence and during the Admirable Campaign, proclaimed the Decree of War to the Death in Trujillo, a key document of the independence struggle. Over time the city kept its character as an Andean, religious and historic capital. In the 20th century its profile was transformed by the building of the Monumento a la Virgen de la Paz, inaugurated in 1983 on the Peña de la Virgen hill: a colossal statue of the Virgin, one of the tallest in the Americas, which became the city's great icon and a destination for both pilgrims and tourists. Today Trujillo combines its colonial heritage, its Bolivarian memory and its Marian monument, in the mountain landscape of the Venezuelan Andes. The full story is on our history page.
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Origins, formation and what the sources say.
Few cities in the Americas changed location so many times before properly existing: Trujillo was moved seven times, which is why it's called the 'portable city'. But long before that Spanish wandering, the narrow valley between hills where it now sits already had inhabitants. Before the Spanish arrived, the region of what is now Trujillo state, in the Venezuelan Andes, was home to Indigenous mountain peoples: communities of Timoto-Cuica tradition and neighboring groups, farmers adapted to Andean life who cultivated the valleys and slopes, kept livestock and held a deep knowledge of the mountain environment.
These peoples lived in villages scattered across the temperate valleys and the higher ground, making use of the range of climatic zones in the Andes for their crops. As elsewhere in the Mérida and Trujillo cordillera, their culture left its mark in place names, farming techniques and the human fabric of the region.
The setting of the future city of Trujillo - a narrow valley between hills, with a temperate climate - was part of that Indigenous territory. The arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the mid-16th century would transform this world completely, beginning the eventful story of the city's founding.
Trujillo was founded in 1557 by Captain Diego García de Paredes, during the Spanish push into the Venezuelan Andes. The story of its founding, however, is among the most singular in Venezuela: the city wasn't established permanently straight away but was moved and refounded several times in different locations during its early years.
The reasons for these moves varied: conflicts with Indigenous peoples, difficult terrain, attacks and other setbacks that forced the settlement to shift from one place to another. That peculiarity earned Trujillo the nickname of the 'portable city' or 'mobile city', a curious case of founding instability until it finally settled permanently in the valley where it stands today.
Once established, Trujillo developed as a colonial Andean city, organized around its square, its church and its town council, in a narrow valley that constrained its growth. It became a farming and religious center for the region, with convents and churches, within the colonial fabric of the Venezuelan Andes.
The event that gave Trujillo a prominent place in Venezuelan history came on 15 June 1813. On that date, in the middle of the War of Independence and during the Admirable Campaign, Simón Bolívar proclaimed in Trujillo the famous Decree of War to the Death, one of the best-known and most disputed documents of the independence process.
The decree, issued amid the brutal confrontation between patriots and royalists, drew a sharp distinction between Americans and Spaniards and hardened the rules of the conflict at a critical moment in the fight for independence. Its famous proclamation sought to rally Americans to the patriot cause against the enemies of independence. The document has been the subject of extensive analysis and interpretation by historians.
For Trujillo, having been the setting for the proclamation of the Decree of War to the Death meant being written permanently into the national historical memory. The city preserves sites and references tied to that episode, making it a point of interest for anyone touring the places of Venezuela's independence struggle.
Over the centuries, Trujillo established itself as the capital of its Andean region, keeping a farming, religious and historic character. The state's economy revolved around mountain agriculture, with coffee as one of its emblematic crops, in a landscape of valleys, slopes and páramos typical of the Venezuelan Andes.
The city held on to its Catholic tradition and its colonial heritage - churches, convents, squares and mansions - in a mountain setting that gave it a distinctive stamp. Although nearby Valera grew in time into the state's main commercial and service center, the city of Trujillo kept its role as capital and its symbolic and historical weight.
That combination of Andean capital, religious tradition and Bolivarian memory defined Trujillo's identity for much of its history. The city entered the 20th century as an Andean center with deep historical roots, ready to add to its profile a new and monumental symbol that would make it famous across the country.
The great landmark of Trujillo's recent history was the building of the Monumento a la Virgen de la Paz, inaugurated on 21 December 1983 on the Peña de la Virgen hill outside the city. It is the work of the Spanish-Venezuelan sculptor Manuel de la Fuente, with the engineer Rosendo Camargo, and went up in barely 18 months. The statue is 46.72 meters high and weighs around 1,200 tonnes, which made it at the time one of the tallest statues of the Virgin in the Americas - taller, even, than Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer - dominating the valley and the range and visible from a great distance.
Beyond its religious and devotional character, the monument was conceived as a symbol of peace and as an attraction that transformed Trujillo's tourist profile. It's hollow inside and lets you climb to five viewing platforms at different heights: at knee level (18 meters, reached by lift), in the hands, at waist level (28 meters, also by lift) and, the highest, at eye level, at around 44 meters, reached by more than 200 steps. From those balconies you get extraordinary panoramic views of the Venezuelan Andes, the valleys, the villages and the city at your feet. Since its opening it has been the great icon of the city and the state.
Today Trujillo brings together in a single destination its colonial heritage - its historic center, its churches and its 'portable city' past - its Bolivarian memory in the Decree of War to the Death, and its Marian monument. That combination of history, faith and landscape, in the heart of the Andes, makes Trujillo a singular and appealing stop on a tour of Venezuela's mountains.