Lima’s Old City Walls

December 29th, 2006

As part of the restoration work of recent years a section of the southern river bank of the Rimac, where the railway to Huancayo runs, was turned into a small park with fountains for people to come and walk through. During this work the forgotten colonial walls of Lima were rediscovered and preserved as an attraction within the small park.
The 7m walls are part of a series of moats and towers that surrounded the mere 100 year old city of Lima. These walls, at this riverbank, were designed to resist not only pirates and bandits but the rough Rimac river (now just a trickle of water).
As well as the walls, ruins of adobe viviendas from the early 1700’s have been excavated and preserved. These once had fine wooden doors and windows and brilliant white interiors. A ramp from the building shown in the photos gave the owner private access to the river.

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