Placed by Franciscan monks in 1672 in the small town of Magdalena Vieja, now Pueblo Libre, the Traveller’s Cross followed a tradition started by Conquistador Francisco Pizarro, a tradition that required the placement of a cross on the main routes to other parts of the country.

Here, just outside the city of Lima, centre of the Spanish Empire in the Americas, travellers would stop at the Cruz del Viejero to ask for protection on their journeys either across Peru or via ship to Central America or Spain, where the cross was made.

The old cross remains near the centre of the modern-day district of Pueblo Libre and is one of its main attractions.

Tags: cruz del viajero, lima, pueblo libre, spaniards