Potosi

The inner city:

The center of Potosi is an open museum with many old colonial buildings. You can take a look at the cathedral or at "the esquina de las cuatro portadas" or the corner with the four doors, where you can look at four beautiful balconies that seem to touch each other, so close to each other they are built.

There is the museum and monastery of San Fransisco and countless other churches, monasteries and museums to admire and visit. The church the San Lorenzo de Carangas is perhaps the most photographed church of Bolivia. The stone work on facade and woodwork on the door is fantastic. But sit on a square and enjoy a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice where you see the locals passing by or walking through the busy shopping street Bolivar is also an experience you shouldn’t miss.  

Other attractions:

• The Casa Nacional de Moneda. 

In 1545 the silver mine Cerro Rico was discovered and Potosi was founded under the name Villa Imperial de Carlos V. The silver ore was extracted directly on a large scale, to be shipped to Spain. Legend has it that the quantities were so large that the Spaniards could build a silver bridge from the mine to the motherland. To process the mines, many (dark) slaves from Africa were also imported as large groups of Bolivians.

They worked here under very miserable conditions - in 4-month shifts where they lived and worked underground. When they came out they had to wear a cap to cover their heads due to the bright sunlight. In the three centuries that the mine was active at full capacity, not less than 8 million people would have died as a result. By 1672, the population of Potosi had risen to nearly 200,000, and the city and its many churches became one of the largest and richest in South America. A mint was founded, the Casa de Moneda, to make silver coins on the spot. There were also water reservoirs to quench the thirst of the expanding population. 

During the first half of the 19th century, the independence wars caused a decline of the city: much treasures were shipped to Europe. After independence in 1825, the population of Potosi had decreased to less than 10,000. By that time, the mines of the Cerro Rico were almost exhausted. The fall of the silver price in the middle of the 19th century gave the economy of Potosí the final blow. In the 1980s, all state mines were closed and the miners switched to a system of cooperatives, where the miners work under self-management.

The ore is extracted and processed into a powder of zinc, lead and silver, which is exported. In addition to mining, Potosí has no other industry. The city is becoming increasingly dependent on tourism and miners earn some money by taking tourist around in the mines.