Oruro is a city and municipality in Bolivia, the capital and most populous city of the department of Oruro and the province of Cercado. The municipality has a population of 264,683 inhabitants (according to the last Bolivian Census of 2012), thus becoming the fifth most populous city in Bolivia. The National Institute of Statistics (INE) estimates that the population of Oruro reached 302,643 inhabitants in 2020, approximately.67 Oruro is located at an altitude of 3735 meters above sea level,4 being also considered among the most high in the world

The city was founded on November 1, 1606 by the oidor of the Charquina Royal Court, the Spanish Manuel de Castro Padilla with the name of “Villa San Felipe de Austria” in homage to the King of Spain at that time Philip III. The word “Oruro” derives from the Uru language.

In 2001, Unesco declared the Oruro Carnival, which itself is the festival of the Virgen del Socavón, “Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity”; thus recognizing the religious and cultural value it expresses.