Sechura is a town in northwestern Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

, 50 km south of Piura

Piura

Piura is a city in northwestern Peru. It is the capital of the Piura Region and the Piura Province. The population is 377,496.It was here that Spanish Conqueror Francisco Pizarro founded the third Spanish city in South America and first in Peru, San Miguel de Piura, in July 1532...

. It is the capital of Sechura Province

Sechura Province

The Sechura Province is the largest of eight provinces of the Piura Region in Peru.-Location:The province is located on the shores of the Pacific Ocean in the extreme north of Peru, just below the upper most Tumbes Region which is on the border with Ecuador.- Boundaries :*North Paita Province*East...

 in the Piura Region

Piura Region

Piura is a coastal region in northwestern Peru. The region's capital is Piura and its largest port cities, Paita and Talara, are also among the most important in Peru...

. The town gives its name to the Sechura Desert

Sechura Desert

The Sechura Desert is located south of the Piura Region of Peru along the Pacific Ocean coast and inland to the foothills of the Andes Mountains...

, which extends south along most of coastal Peru. Crescent dunes

Dune

In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by wind. Dunes occur in different forms and sizes, formed by interaction with the wind. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter "slip face" in the lee of the wind...

lie south of the city, between the sea and the highway.

The town has a main square with the Catédral de Sechura, built in the 17th-century in the Spanish colonial style. Because of the desert surrounding the town, the church has sometimes been called the Catédral de Arena (Sand Cathedral).