Los Barrios Altos
March 29, 2007
Fine architecture, grand buildings, horse drawn carriages ferrying around the rich. This affluent area is adjacent to the city centre laid out by the conquistador Pizarro and dates back to not long after he founded it.
The Spanish destroyed the indigenous communities in the area, notably the Limay, forced them into Catholicism and built the Santa Ana church over their settlement. The Spanish built around the church and the area became known as the District of Santa Ana. Further east new towns were built for the indigenous so that the Spanish would be better able to control and convert them. Around Lima and Santa Ana walls were built to defend against hostile other locals and pirates. Santa Ana had an entrance where Cinco Esquinas, a junction of 5 streets, is located in the centre of what will soon be called the Barrios Altos.
When the city expanded in the 1800s, Santa Ana and all the towns to the east of it were encompassed into the city. The suburbs were replaced by denser colonial streets with fine colonial buildings. The area was given the general name of the Barrios Altos, the high neighbourhoods, as the area slowly slopes up towards the mountains. In these years, Lima really was the City of the Kings as it was known at the time. Lima had no problems with crime or poverty, it’s population consisted almost entirely of rich Spaniards and Spanish descendants. The Barrios Altos were the pride of the city.
Since the 1900s the rich have moved out to the new suburbs and the poor have moved in to the old. The best examples of colonial architecture in Lima are now in a decomposing state, many barely standing. With little money to spend on restoration these buildings are likely to remain like this until they collapse.
The photos attached to this blog show the current state of the Barrios Altos, now one of the poorest areas of the city. It’s now a place of decay and poverty but also one of strong community. It’s not as dangerous as people say it is, I wasn’t robbed or hassled in my many hours walking through the old streets, on the contrary, people waved, smiled and wished me a good day. If more tourists would visit this area, perhaps some of the money that the Government does have for restoration will be spent here, to save the buildings and also improve the quality of life for the residents.
Photos –
The Cats of Parque Kennedy
Ancón
Priest killed in robbery at San Francisco Convent, Lima
Peru's hard-hitting Oscar film hope divides opinion [Featured]
Leguías Lima of the early 1900s
Peru at the Movies: The Emperor’s New Groove
TWENTY rare pink dolphins killed in Peru's Amazon
Oechsle - Peru's original department store
Police recover Inca mummy among artefacts to sold on black market
Chicharrón for breakfast, there's nothing like it
Klaus Koschmieder - Latest Chachapoyan Discoveries
Building boats in Santa Rosa
my Dad was from there. It looks beutiful. One day I want to visit.
acabo de regresar de los barrios altos despues de 40 anios, esta igualito hermosos recuerdos , gente calida ,picara,bohemia, amigos de la infancia ya “cochos” como yo, jugamos fulbito en TARATA la 3ra cuadra casi nos da un ataque al corazon, VIVA EL PERU y los barrios altos
[...] street in the area of Lima known as the Barrios Altos used to house the wealthy upper-middle classes and would once have been busy with horses and carts [...]
[...] short time the area surrounding old Surco town had gone from farm land to city. People had left the old urban centre and moved to this new [...]
[...] are in a state of disrepair, some bordering on collapse, just like those in colonial Lima, Barrios Altos and Rimac. Still, they retain an air of splendour and its not hard to imagine how the place would [...]
[...] of Lima and Callao. Having more than a million rural poor descending on them, the wealthy fled the city to greener pastures in the old holiday towns of Miraflores and Barranco and their large colonial [...]
[...] (10:25pm): So far as many as 70 aftershocks in Ica Some of the beautiful buildings of the Barrios Altos have partially collapsed. Many people in the area will be without a home [...]
[...] death in to steal valuables. The men, now identified and on the run, residents of the district of Barrios Altos, were able to escape with two safes containing a total of S/.20,000 to be used to fund a two soup [...]