La Paz

At 3,650 Meters Above Sea Level

The city of La Paz will take your breath away, and not only for its altitude: it sits at 3,650 meters above sea level, making it the highest administrative capital in the world. The city climbs the hills, with steep elevations ranging from 3,000 to 4,100 meters, while the towering Illamani, its three peaks always snow-capped, looms over the city and can be seen from several vantage points, including the neighboring city of El Alto. The greater La Paz metropolitan area is in fact made up of three cities – La Paz, El Alto and Viacha – with a combined population of around a million and a half, making it the second-largest city in Bolivia after Santa Cruz.

A City of Contrasts

A city full of contrasts, La Paz is the administrative capital of Bolivia, and the mix of cultures found here – including Spanish and indigenous – creates a magical atmosphere. The city’s full name was originally “Nuestra Señora de La Paz”: a name that commemorated the restoration of peace after the civil war that followed the insurrection led by Gonzalo Pizarro, during the early phase of the Spanish colonization of the Andes.

The Founding and the Colonial Urban Plan

The city was founded by Alonso de Mendoza in 1548, in what is today Laja, following the discovery of gold in the Choqueyapu river; shortly after its founding, La Paz was re-established in its present location, in the valley of Markha Chuquiago.

In 1549, Juan Gutiérrez Paniagua was commissioned to design an urban plan to designate the sites of public areas, plazas and institutional buildings: the Plaza de los Españoles, today’s Plaza Murillo, was chosen for the government buildings and the cathedral. Interestingly, La Paz’s bus station was designed by the French architect Gustave Eiffel, and remains today the main departure point for bus travel to and from La Paz, with daily connections to all the main Bolivian cities.

The Historic Center and the Palacio Quemado

The center of La Paz is bordered by the cathedral – whose towers were completed only just in time for the Pope’s visit in 1997 – and by the Government Palace, or Palacio Quemado, so named for the number of times it has been engulfed in flames (“quemado” means burned). Guarding the entrance are guards in red uniforms, in honor of the soldiers of the War of the Pacific (1879–1884), during which Chile took control of Bolivia’s coastal region.