Tacna: History, Museums and Regional Traditions

Tacna tells its story in a variety of places: a Neo-Renaissance cathedral, a battlefield with a memorial complex and several museums are devoted to the region’s past. There is also Pocollay’s winemaking tradition and the crops grown in Pachía. If you’re looking for a holiday apartment in Tacna, you can plan your trip around whether you’re most interested in history and remembrance or regional produce.

History and Remembrance in Tacna

Construction of Tacna Cathedral began in 1875 and was completed in 1954. As a Neo-Renaissance religious building, it offers a different way to explore the town’s history than the museums and memorials do. The city of Tacna is the focal point for several of these historical narratives.

On 26 May 1880, Alto de la Alianza was the site of a decisive battle in the War of the Pacific. The complex includes a memorial monument, a site museum and a cemetery. These three elements offer different perspectives on commemoration: the monument, the museum at the historic site and the cemetery together form the memorial complex. If you’re interested in the history of the War of the Pacific, you can make Alto de la Alianza a dedicated part of your trip.

Museums with Different Focuses

The Museo de la Reincorporación is located in the Casa de la Comisión Jurídica. It displays an enlarged copy of the document formalizing Tacna’s transfer, along with documents, photographs, objects and publications about Tacna’s occupation and reintegration into Peru. Every year on 28 August at 2 p.m., Tacna’s return to Peru after almost 50 years is reenacted at the Casa de la Comisión Jurídica. The collection and the annual reenactment thus offer different forms of remembrance.

The Museo de Sitio Las Peañas offers a different perspective: it has two exhibition halls and an elevated wooden walkway from which visitors can view the graves in situ. At the Museo Histórico Casa Zela, the focus is on an event that took place on 20 June 1811: under the leadership of freedom fighter Francisco Antonio de Zela y Arizaga, Peru’s independence movement was initiated that day. The house became a historical museum in 1961.

Railway history has its own museum, too. The Museo Ferroviario Nacional de Tacna has three exhibition rooms: a historical-documentary hall and the Peru and Tacna-Arica halls. This is separate from the Tacna-Arica tourist train, which connects Tacna and Arica over a distance of 62 kilometres. The museum rooms and the train route each have a distinct focus; together they show how railways feature in Tacna both as an exhibition topic and as a link between two cities.

Winemaking and Agriculture

Bodega Don Miguel preserves Pocollay’s artisanal winemaking tradition and produces wines, piscos and liqueurs from Italia grapes. This makes Pocollay an interesting destination for travellers who want to discover regional produce as well as historic sites. Pachía is associated with the cultivation of Zapallos de carga squash and maize. This agricultural character adds another facet to the picture of Tacna: alongside memorial sites and collections, the cultivation and processing of regional products are also part of what makes the destination.

When choosing a holiday apartment in Tacna, you can start by asking yourself which of these themes you want to shape your trip: historical narratives and museums, railway history, or the regional traditions of Pocollay and Pachía.

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