The original Church of Santa Maria was established as a parish, immediately after the Foundation of Trujillo (1535-1540). In 1616, the Church was elevated to the rank of Cathedral by Pope Paul V, but after three years was destroyed along with the entire city in the earthquake in February, 1619. The reconstruction of the Church was entrusted to Bartolomeo de Las Cuevas. But this Church building has not experienced a devastating earthquake in February 1635. In 1647 the episcopate was treated more seriously to the Church building by the architect Francisco de Soto Rios, which ended in 1666 Francisco Balboa. This time the architects have tried to provide all the necessary steps to resilience building to withstand future earthquakes on the Peruvian coast.

In 1967, Pope Paul VI raised the status of the Church to the Cathedral, but in 1970, because of the earthquake, part of the temple was seriously damaged: the dome, the bell tower and the altar. Two decades later the building of the Cathedral was fully restored.

The Cathedral of Santa Maria is famous for its altar - this was a huge white altar in the Baroque and Rococo gold leaf, decorated with precious icons and images, made by masters of the art schools in Cuzco and Quito. Its beauty and uniqueness can only be compared with the altar in the Cathedral of Cuzco.

Visitors of the Cathedral of Trujillo can see a large collection of ancient icons that adorns it: images of St. Rosa, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Peter, St. John the Baptist, St. Toribio de Mogrovejo, Valentine's day. The walls of the Church are decorated with frescoes depicting the apostles, Windows - stained glass Windows.

Cathedral Museum, located inside the Church, keeps valuable religious works of art. Especially valuable painting and sculpture of the school of Cuzco and artifacts of the colonial period, including two paintings: "Peter's Denial" and "John the Baptist".

Near the Cathedral is the Archbishop's Palace.