Although La Paz is the seat of government, Bolivia's official constitutional capital is Sucre, a city whose entirely whitewashed historic centre has been declared a Unesco World Heritage Site.
A city frozen in colonial elegance
Founded in 1538, Sucre owes its nickname “White City” to a municipal ordinance requiring all buildings in the historic centre to be painted white, a tradition still respected today. The result is an unusually harmonious urban landscape, with churches, convents and mansions that recall the city's importance during the colonial period, when it was one of the wealthiest cities in South America thanks to the nearby silver mines of Potosí.
The cradle of Bolivian independence
Sucre holds a special place in the country's history: it was here, in the Casa de la Libertad, that Bolivia's declaration of independence was signed in 1825. The building, now a museum, is one of the most visited stops in the historic centre, alongside the Metropolitan Cathedral and the many convents that still house valuable collections of colonial art.