Miraflores District (Lima)

The Miraflores district is one of the forty-three districts that make up the province of Lima, in the department of the same name, in Peru. It limits to the north with the district of San Isidro, to the east with the districts of Surquillo and Santiago de Surco, to the south with the district of Barranco, and to the west with the Pacific Ocean through the Costa Verde.

Miraflores occupies sixth place in the Human Development Index of the districts of Peru in 2019, however, it continues to be within the top three positions in Lima districts where it is more expensive to acquire a home, land or department. It is inhabited mainly by families of high socioeconomic status.

Location

The Miraflores district is located in the city of Lima, in the west of the city, with an area of 9.62 square kilometers and an approximate population of 89,060 inhabitants. It has the urbanizations San Antonio, La Aurora and Santa Cruz, being in the latter where until the end of the XX century the population lived considered lower-middle class and where there were a good number of auto mechanic workshops, today converted into upscale restaurants, having been transformed, like the rest of the district, into a residential area. It is worth mentioning that Miraflores borders the San Isidro district, therefore, as both concentrate the financial area of Lima, it is the place with the most inhabitants with the most possibilities of dedicating time to leisure and entertainment activities.

History

Lima Culture

Huaca Pucllana, architecture of the Lima Culture.

The ancient culture called Lima, which emerged around the II century e. c. and the III century e. c. It focused its development on the Rímac valley, where the Maranga architectural complex stands, and on the Lurín valley, where the earliest phase of the Pachacámac sanctuary corresponds. It also corresponds to manifestations present in the valleys of Supe, Paramonga and Huarmey, to the north and Asia, Omas and Mala, to the south.

The monumental complex of Maranga is definitely the greatest architectural exponent of Lima culture. The monuments of Maranga are pyramidal, with ramps and steps, enclosures and warehouses built with small adobes. These centers continued in force during the expansion of the Waris and later during the Inca occupation. The Huaca Pucllana is also part of this cultural phenomenon.

Viceregal and Republican era

28 July Park (Ex Kennedy).

La Rosa Nautica Restaurant.

The district of Miraflores in the viceregal era and the beginning of the republic, belonged to Magdalena.

On January 2, 1857, President Ramón Castilla promulgated the Law approved in the Constituent Assembly, for the formation of the Civic Registry. Thus, on that date and with the Organic Law of November 1856, Miraflores emerged with district authorities. It extends from the borders of Cercado de Lima to Barranco. He founded Balconcillo, which remained under his jurisdiction and with him, Barboncito, La Palma, Conde San Isidro, Lince, Limatambo, Santa Cruz and Chacarilla; Armendáriz with the lands of Leuro and Ocharán and that of the natives; those of San Francisco and Mengoa.

The town was previously called San Miguel de Miraflores.

The district gets its name from the Cartuja de Miraflores founded by Juan II in 1442 near the walled city of Burgos.

Until before the 1920s, Miraflores included the current districts of La Victoria (1920), San Isidro (1931), Lince (1936), part of Surco (1944), Surquillo (1949), San Luis (1968) and San Borja (1983).

Miraflores was the center of the meetings between Viceroy Pezuela and San Martín on September 24, 1820, as well as the home of Cabada and Scheel in 1857, and the site of the Battle of Miraflores in 1881.

The battle of Miraflores was a confrontation that occurred on January 15, 1881, between the forces of the Chilean Army and the Peruvian Army, within the framework of the Lima Campaign, during the War of the Pacific. The Chilean army under the command of General Manuel Baquedano, supported by three Chilean navy ships, defeated the forces entrenched in part of the second Peruvian defensive line in Miraflores, led by Don Nicolás de Piérola after more than four hours of fighting.

In 1898, it bordered on the north with the lands of the Surquillo farm and on the west, with Bellavista street; to the east with the railroad tracks to Lima and to the south with the first two blocks of Larco and Porta.

Urban landmarks

There are multiple social organizations originating and typical of the district. Among them, linked to the distant and recent history of the Miraflores district, are important Peruvian social clubs that have their headquarters here, such as the Las Terrazas Tennis Club, the Swiss Club, the Waikiki Club and the Miraflores Social Club..

In the district of Miraflores is the headquarters of the French Alliance of Lima, as well as educational institutions such as Markham College, the San Silvestre College, the Nuestra Señora del Carmen College (http://www.carmelitas.edu.pe/), the Mater Purissima School, the Peruvian German Alexander von Humboldt School, the Swiss Pestalozzi School, the Miraflores School, the Santa Rita de Casia School, the San Jorge de Miraflores School, the Juana Alarco de Dammert School, the Scipión E. Llona School, Miraflores Adventist School, La Reparación School and Hosanna School.

In addition, there is the Raúl Porras Barrenechea Institute of the University of San Marcos, facilities of the Southern Scientific University, the Lima Campus of the University of Piura, the Faculty of Psychology and Education of the Peruvian University Cayetano Heredia, Faculties of the Alas Peruanas University, the Institute of Government and Public Management of the San Martín de Porres University, a campus of the San Ignacio de Loyola University and the Faculty of Oceanography, Fisheries, Food Sciences and Aquaculture of the Federico Villarreal National University, the Ricardo Palma Pre-University Center, the Cori Wassi Cultural Center of the Ricardo Palma University and the Peruvian Institute of Genealogical Research.

In the district you can also find well-preserved republican architecture. Two examples are the Casa Prado, belonging to the Prado family, and the Casa García-Alvarado, a residence located in front of the current Kennedy Park on José Larco Avenue and in which the former mayor of Miraflores Genaro Castro Iglesias lived together with his family..

Cinemas and theaters

• Alcázar Cinema
• Cinema Pacific
• Theatre La Plaza
• Cinema - Colina Theatre

Tourist attractions

The Costa Verde Beach Circuit crossing the Miraflores district.

Miraflores has many tourist attractions. Due to its degree of security, a large number of tourists from all over the world prefer it and for this very reason more and more hotels, including the most fashionable ones in the city of Lima, are located in this district. In addition to its beaches and boardwalks with well-kept parks and a panoramic view of the entire Chorrillos Bay, the best-known tourist attractions in Miraflores are those mentioned below:

• Huaca Pucllana: It was one of the most important administrative ceremonial centers of the Lima culture, the huaca occupies an approximate size of 6 hectares (Originally, it was 18 hectares). It is estimated that it was built in the sixth century after Christ and is currently one of the best preserved huacas in the city of Lima. It was placed in value from 1983.
• Miraflores Central Park: Located in the heart of Miraflores this park, which includes Kennedy Park, is very crowded by the trade that is located in its surroundings. In this park artists come to offer their wood paintings and sculptures. Also come cryolla and folklore music groups. At the front of this park is the church of Miraflores (the church of the miraculous medal) and the municipality of the district; and very close is the street of the pizzas where there are a large number of restaurants specialized in this Italian food. Kennedy Park has the peculiarity of being inhabited by herds of cats that once had home in the Miraculous Virgin Church. Then they were released and reproduced. At present, people who flow through the area live with them and feed them, so cats look more domestic than streetmen.
• Larcomar Shopping Centre: Located in the old Salazar Park, on a cliff at the foot of the Sea of Grau or Pacific Ocean, from where you can see an excellent view of the Limeño coastline; this shopping center is nestled in the rock and has several levels of numerous shops of all kinds, food shops, bars. The renowned shopping center of Miraflores used to have a modern multicine, until in November 2016 a fire consumed it and caused the death of 4 people which caused the definitive closure of the cinemas. Behind this shopping center are two emblematic buildings that are considered the most modern of Miraflores (the towers Parque Mar and Marriott International).
• Instituto y Casa-Museo Raúl Porras Barrenechea: The house of the illustrious Sanmarquino and diplomat Raúl Porras Barrenechea, declared a historical and artistic monument, for which all his works of art, furniture, paintings, sculptures, photographs, family and personal memories are preserved, guarded and permanently exhibited; the Porras archive and the Peruvian writers' museum. It is part of the Literary Route "Mario Vargas Llosa". He currently serves as a house-museum, specialized library and research centre at the University of San Marcos.
  

  Lower Armendáriz: emblematic motorway of the district of Miraflores.
• Casa-Museo Ricardo Palma: The house where the famous writer Ricardo Palma resided, is a clear example of the miraflorine architecture of the beginning of the centuryXX.It retains several objects of the writer as the bed where he spent his last days and the pen with which he wrote his Peruvian Traditions.

The historic Instituto Raúl Porras Barrenechea of the University of San Marcos, created in memory of the outstanding Peruvian intellectual, has for many decades been one of the main intellectual centres of the capital. It currently serves as a house-museum, specialized library and research centre.

• Site Museum in Reducto Park No. 2: One of the places where the Battle of Miraflores was held on January 15, 1881. The lags of the Peruvian army, reinforced by the civilian population, especially the young people who had not yet died during the Pacific War, faced an invader who arrived with disproportionate numerical superiority and armament. In the place a beautiful 1:1 scale replica of the Miraflores train station was built, which was formerly left in the corner of the Alameda Ricardo Palma with Paseo de la República, where the Lima-Chorrillos train was passing, today express or "zanjón". An old locomotive is displayed, and the replica of the station includes a small Site Museum.
• Flights to Parapente on the cliffs: Miraflores has become the capital of the Parapentes and at the same time the Parapentes have become an important part of the image of Miraflores, every day from noon they are seen surfing the air either on sport flights or on tourist flights for passengers of all ages and pesos. The area of the takeoff is located in the Malecón Cisneros just a few meters from the park of love and security is guaranteed since the municipality has strict control over security measures.
• Golden Museum of Peru: Located at the Larcomar Shopping Centre, it has eight rooms with a permanent display of gold, silver and other metals from the main pre-Columbian cultures of northern Peru, it has been equipped with the most modern lighting technology and a free auditour system. In the exhibition the visitor will be able to admire not only the beauty and complexity of pre-Columbian art but will be imaginaryly transported to the time of the Chimús and Sicán. The Museum Hall also has an itinerant exhibition gallery.
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  Parapentes en el malecón de Miraflores.
  Luis Miró Quesada Garland Room: It is a non-profit contemporary art center where individual and collective projects are developed, mainly related to visual arts. It was founded in 1984 by art critic Luis Lama Manzur, under the name "Sala de Exhibitions de la Municipalidad de Miraflores". The first exhibition was opened on 17 July 1984, with an anthological exhibition by the artist David Herskovitz. Subsequently the name was changed to the room in honor of the memory of the architect Luis "Cartucho" Miró Quesada Garland, a great collaborator of the Municipality of Miraflores, propulsor of the "Grupo Espacio" and one of the most important art critics of Peru. Currently the SLMQG receives a very diverse audience and an average of 100,000 visitors per year given its great location in the heart of Miraflores and the relevance of the visual arts samples that are performed there.

Authorities

Municipals

• 2019 - 2022
  • Mayor: Luis Alfonso Molina Arles, of National Solidarity.
  • Regivers:
  1. Martín Marcial Bustamante Castro (National Solidarity)
  2. Oscar Jonathan Chang Rios (National Solidarity)
  3. Jorge Augusto de Albertis González del Riego (National Solidarity)
  4. Romina Mercedes Milagros Stucchi López Raygada (National Solidarity)
  5. Maia Francesca Valentino Straznicky (National Solidarity)
  6. Jorge Mario Gurmendi De la Fuente (National Solidarity)
  7. Jorge D'Acunha Cuervas (Democratic Party We Are Peru)
  8. Alfredo Arcadio Lozada Bonilla (Popular Christian Party - PPC)
  9. Javier Alfredo Garrués Durand (All for Peru)

Police

• Commissioner: Cmdte. PNP Fredy Hucharo Zárate

Religious

• Virgin Miraculous parish
  • Párroco: Pbro. Alfonso Guerra.
• Parish Our Lady of Fatima
  • Párroco: Carlos Cardó Franco S. J.
• synagogue 1870
  • Rabbi: William Bronstein

Transportation

Metropolitan is the busiest and most traveled transportation by the citizens of Lima to enter their jobs, universities, institutes, entertainment among others.

• July 28th Station: Located in the Paseo de la República av.a 28 de Julio.

• Benavides Station: Located in the Paseo de la República av.a Alfredo Benavides.

• Ricardo Palma Station: Located in the Paseo de la República av.a Ricardo Palma.

International Relations

Twinnings

Twinned municipalities of the district:

Abroad:

Nationally:

Agreements

• Santiago de Surco, Peru (2016)
• Barranco, Peru (2019)
• Lima, Peru (2021)

Gallery

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  Huaca Pucllana at night

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  Parque Reducto n.o 2

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  Buildings in Miraflores

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  Torres Telmex (now Torre Claro) and Marriott in Miraflores.

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  House of the architect Emilio Harth-Terre (now headquarters of the Municipality of Miraflores).

In literature

The Miraflores neighborhood appears in several novels by Mario Vargas Llosa, Nobel Prize winner for literature, such as The City and the Dogs or Mischief of the Bad Girl, as well as in the stories of Julio Ramón Ribeyro.