Historical center of lima

Map of Lima district, in yellow the Historic Center.

The Historic Center of Lima is located in the Rimac Valley, and was founded by the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro in January 1535. Lima was the political, administrative, religious, and economic capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru and the most important city of the Spanish dominions in South America. The process of evangelization at the end of the XVI century, allowed the arrival of various religious orders and the construction of churches and convents. The University of San Marcos, Dean of America, was founded on May 12, 1551, and began its functions on January 2, 1553 in the Santo Domingo Convent.

Despite the serious damage suffered by the earthquakes, it has numerous architectural monuments, such as the Convent of San Francisco, the largest of its kind in this part of the world. Many buildings in Lima are joint creations of artisans, local artists, architects and master builders of the Old Continent.

You can see in the historic center of Lima: the Plaza Mayor of Lima, the Cathedral of Lima, the Archbishop's Palace of Lima, the Church of Santo Domingo, and the convent of San Francisco. Also several public works built during the viceregal period such as the Stone Bridge over the Rímac River, the Paseo de Aguas, the Alameda de los Descalzos, the Plaza de Toros de Acho and the Presbítero Matías Maestro Cemetery.

Due to this rich history, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. If you walk through the center of Lima, you will see many old houses and churches that have a black and white logo on their facades, which means that they are buildings listed by UNESCO.

Foundation

Lima city plan with 1750 walls.

It was chosen as the City of Kings by the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro on January 18, 1535 in the settlement of the area known as Lima, in connection with the oracle of the Huaca de Santa Ana, shortly after. Subsequently, the place name 'Lima' corners the use of the Spanish name of the city. In the first maps of Peru you can see the name of Lima together with that of Ciudad de los Reyes.

World Heritage Site

Delimitation plan of the historic centre of Lima

During the 50s and 60s of the XX century, the historic center of Lima entered a stage of modernization with the construction of numerous apartment and office buildings. However, starting in the 1970s, the area went through a process of deterioration after the invasion of outpatients that arose in mid-1975. During the 1980s the process worsened, the area suffering from increased vehicular traffic.

During the administration of mayor Alberto Andrade in the mid-1990s, the center of Lima fully recovered and once again houses offices and commercial stores.

In 1988, Unesco declared the Convent of San Francisco and later in 1991 extended it to the historic center of Lima as a World Heritage Site

On August 31, 1961, the Municipality of Lima created the Metropolitan Deliberative Board of Historic, Artistic Monuments and Archaeological Sites with the aim of identifying and registering buildings with monumental value, as well as rescuing the physiognomic characteristics of the Center Historical of Lima. The board was constituted by a multidisciplinary team made up of 20 institutions that carried out the first plan of urban intangibility where the monuments and urban-monumental environments of Lima and Callao were classified.

In 1988, Unesco declared the Convent of San Francisco and later in 1991 extended it to the historic center of Lima as a World Heritage Site due to its originality and the concentration of 608 historical monuments built at the time of the Hispanic presence, especially within the space called the Checkerboard of Pizarro.

On July 14, 1994, during the administration of Ricardo Belmont Cassinelli, by agreement of Council No. 168 of the Municipality of Lima, and Municipal Ordinance No. 062 of July 15, 1994, the Program was created Municipal for the Recovery of the Historic Center of Lima (PROLIMA) with the objective of revaluing, recovering and adequately managing the heritage of the historic center of Lima, registered on the World Heritage list since 1991, at the impulse of the extinct Board of Lima.

In January 2017, the Ministry of Culture of Peru issued Ministerial Resolution No. 029-2017-MC creating a Working Group in charge of reaching consensus and proposing actions for the recovery of the Historic Center of Lima. Said group would be made up of representatives of government organizations and international entities in charge of ensuring the preservation of the monumental heritage of Lima.

On December 5, 2019, the Lima Metropolitan Council, headed by Mayor Jorge Muñoz Wells, approved by majority the Master Plan for the Historic Center of Lima by 2019 with a vision of 2035, and the Sole Administration Regulations that were prepared by PROLIMA in order to continue with the integral, sustainable and human recovery of this part of the Peruvian capital.

According to the zoning map of the Lima district, this area, mostly blocks, has the ZTE1, ZTE2 and ZTE3 zoning.

The balconies of Lima

Balconies of the House of Osambela and contiguous buildings.

In the historic center of Lima there are many balconies from the viceregal and republican times that give the city of Lima a very unique characteristic. The types of balconies that the city presents are open balconies, flat balconies, drawer balconies, continuous balconies, among others. To achieve the conservation of Lima's balconies, the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima, during the administration of Mayor Alberto Andrade Carmona, invited private companies and individuals to adopt a balcony in order to preserve them as they were originally. The profusion of these balconies give harmony and originality to the old town of Lima which, in the first half of the 1990s of the century XX, was declared by UNESCO as a Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Viceregal opulence

At the time of the Viceroyalty of Peru, pageantry, magnificence, and a legendary court life were created. The authority of the Viceroy, as representative of the Spanish monarchy, was particularly important, since his appointment represented a significant promotion and the successful culmination of a career in the colonial administration.

The entrances to Lima of the new viceroys were especially lavish. For the occasion, the streets were paved with silver bars from the gates of the city of Lima to the Viceroy's Palace.

San Marcos University and University Park

The University Park was built after the walls of Lima were demolished in 1870. The Casona de San Marcos is currently located there, a structure that dates from 1605 and is currently the Cultural Center of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, the The oldest university in America, founded in 1551. Also, the Crypt of the Heroes is located there in the old Church of San Carlos, which together with the Casona de San Marcos were the old convent of the Jesuits, who when expelled from America, was occupied by the Real Convictorio de San Carlos and finally with the advent of the Republic by the University of San Marcos. On the occasion of the centenary of the country's independence in 1921, it was fenced off and the German colony arranged to build the 30-meter-high Clock Tower. At 12:00 noon, its bells play the notes of the national anthem, the statue of Hipólito Unanue is also located in the park. After decades of deterioration and abandonment, the Casona de San Marcos complex was the subject of an important restoration project started in 1991 with the support of the Spanish Cooperation, which after almost two decades of work made possible its recovery and current use as a Cultural Center. San Marcos from the National University of San Marcos, Dean of America.

Main Square

On January 18, 1535, the conquistador Francisco Pizarro founded the City of Kings and established what is today the Plaza Mayor of the city as its nerve center. Some of the most important events in the history of this country have been developed in this square. Initially, there were small shops and stores. Likewise, it was the scene of bullfights and used as an execution site for those sentenced to death by the Court of the Holy Inquisition. In the year 1651, a bronze pool was placed in the center of the square, which remains to this day.

It was in the main square where the Declaration of Independence of Peru was proclaimed in 1821. It is surrounded by the Government Palace, the Municipal Palace of Lima, the Cathedral, the Archbishop's Palace and the Union Club, which with the exception of the cathedral, if properly colonial, form a set of Neo-Colonial architecture from the decades of the 20s and 40s of the XX century.

Panoramic view of the Plaza Mayor de Lima

San Martin Square

This square was inaugurated on July 28, 1921 on the occasion of the centenary of the independence of Peru. The design of the square was the work of the Spanish architect and artist Manuel Piqueras Cotolí In the central part, there is a monument in honor of General José de San Martín, whose work belongs to the Spanish sculptor Mariano Benlliure. Of the buildings that surround this square, the Gran Hotel Bolívar stands out, which in the XX century was the most elegant in Lima, the group sculpture of Las Tres Gracias, the National Club, the Teatro Colón and the portals of Zela and Pumacahua, all the buildings that surround it have a great neocolonial and academic stylistic unity.

Panoramic view of St. Martin Square

Plaza Italia

Its layout dates from the beginning of the founding of Lima, in the middle of the XVI century. It was known as Plaza de Santa Ana in relation to the church of the same name located in front of the square. José de San Martín, in 1821, declares the Independence of Peru in this square; he previously did it in the Plaza de Armas. During the Republic, and in honor of one of its greatest guests, the Italian naturalist Antonio Raimondi, the Peruvian State changed its name to 'Plaza Italia', after the inauguration of its monument.

Fifth Dam

La Quinta de Presa was the manor house of the aristocratic family Carrillo de Albornoz y Bravo de Lagunas Marqueses de Montemar y Monteblanco, it was built in the 17th century XVIII, outside the perimeter of the old walls of Lima, on the other side of the Rímac River. The property is in the French Baroque or Rococo style, adapted to the climate of the capital and the conditions of the construction materials. It has been declared a national historic monument in 1972.

Court of the Holy Inquisition

The Court of the Holy Office was established in 1570 with the purpose of punishing heresies and other crimes against the faith. Its abolition dates from 1820. On the outside of this construction you can see an imposing neoclassical portico and, in the main hall, an outstanding carved wooden ceiling, which is considered the best preserved in the capital.

Image gallery

• 

  Pileta de la Plaza Mayor de Lima

• 

  Palace of Government of Peru

• 

  Municipal Palace of Lima

• 

  The Archbishopric Palace next to the Cathedral of Lima

• 

  Union yarn

• 

  Plaza Peru

• 

  Union Club

• 

  National Club

• 

  Basilica and convent of San Francisco de Lima

• 

  Displaced Station

• 

  Palacio de Torre Tagle

• 

  Teatro Colón

• 

  Trujillo

• 

  Stone Bridge

• 

  Basilica and convent of Saint Peter

• 

  Legislative Palace and Bolivar Square

• 

  Church of Merced

• 

  Rimac Building and Paseo de los Heroes Navales

• 

  Gran Hotel Bolívar

• 

  Casona de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos en el Parque Universitario

• 

  Lima Stock Exchange

• 

  Avenida Nicolás de Pierola

• 

  Jirón Carabaya

• 

  Jirón Áncash

• 

  Rabbit Count of Superunda

• 

  Chiron Ocoña

• 

  Church of Santo Domingo

• 

  Hotel Sheraton

• 

  Municipal Theatre

• 

  Casa Fernandini

• 

  Church La Recoleta

• 

  Casa de Correos y Telégrafos de Lima

• 

  Plaza Dos de Mayo

• 

  Plaza Bolognesi

• 

  Royal College of the National University of San Marcos

• 

  Italy Square (Lima)

• 

  Popular Building and Future

• 

  House of 13 doors

• 

  Palace of Justice

References and details

Video

• Lima: Walk the historic center. Special for its 475th anniversary. Andina, Peruvian News Agency. January 2010 (breakable link available on the Internet Archive; see history, first version and last).