Originally the Roman town of Turgalium, Trujillo was held by the Moors for many centuries before being recovered by Christian forces in the 13th century. The town now calls itself the "Cradle of the Conquistadors", having been the birthplace of many men who went out to seek their fortune in the New World and conquered vast territories for Spain. Chief among them was Francisco Pizarro, conqueror of Peru, who was born in Trujillo in 1475. Other notable figures were Francisco de Orellana, the first man to sail up the Amazon; Diego García Paredes, the "Samson of Extremadura", a man strong as an ox, who founded Trujillo in Venezuela; and Ñuflo de Chaves, who founded the Bolivian town of Santa Cruz. They and their descendants brought some of their wealth back to Trujillo and built great palaces which still give the town its distinctive stamp.
From the church of Santiago a street leads up to the Castillo, built in Moorish times on the remains of a Roman fort and given its present form in the 15th and 16th centuries.
From the Palacio Orellana-Pizarro it is a short distance to the Gothic Puerta de San Andrés, which leads into the part of the old town within the walls. Here too there are numerous noble mansions. Immediately inside the gate, to the right, is a small square with the 15th century Palacio de Escobar.
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Farther northof the Palacio de los Escobar, to the left, is the Gothic church of Santa María la Mayor (13th C.), with the tombs of Diego García de Paredes (b. Trujillo 1466) and Juana Yupanqui, daughter (and also daughter-in- law) of Francisco Pizarro. The retablo has paintings by Fernando Gallego. In the square in which the church stands is the birthplace of Francisco de Orellana.
The 12th century church of Santiago contains a statue of St James (Santiago), the town's patron saint, and a Gothic retablo. Adjoining the church is an old town gate, the Puerta de Santiago.
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Trujillo
