The history of pre-Hispanic Lima is deeply entwined with Pachacamac. Worshipped across the central Andes since before the Inca conquest, the powerful creator god Pacha Kamaq is even revered today, almost 500 years after the Spanish conquest by Catholics in Lima. Today this powerful being has taken shape as the Cristo Morado and has been absorbed into Catholicism, and just as he is today, this ancient figure was also known as the Lord of the Earthquakes.
Category: "Modern Peru"
Convento de San Francisco
Every tourist who visits the colonial heart of Lima visits the San Francisco convent and descends into the depths of its catacombs, filled with the bones of the first generations of Spanish settlers. […] The church is also home to one of Lima’s most important libraries. Built in the 18th century, 25 thousand volumes of books are found here, many are now almost 500 years old. The furniture found here is original, the cedar-wood chairs and tables were once used by Franciscans when studying. [..]
University of San Marcos
San Marcos was founded in 1551 as the Real y Pontificia Universidad de la Ciudad de los Reyes de Lima (Real and Pontifical University of the City of the Kings of Lima), less than two decades after the founding of the city of Lima. With a royal decree issued by the King of Spain Carlos I and with a papal bull, it claims to be the first officially recognised university in the Americas – Santo Domingo’s was founded first at the time of the conquest of Peru, but didn’t receive recognition from the King until afterwards.
Bar Maury and the Pisco Sour
Californian immigrant Victor Morris arrived in the city in the early 1900s and set up a bar that operated until 1933.
It is said that it was here in Bar Morris that the Pisco Sour was first conceived, invented either by Victor or one of his bar staff, based on the recipe for whiskey sour.
The new cocktail was a huge hit, and the city’s biggest hotels, such as the Hotel Bolivar and Hotel Maury began serving their own versions to their international clients.
Bar Maury took up the mantel, and according to barman Eloy Cuadros, who is now part of the furniture, it is here the recipe was perfected and it is their version that has spread across the country. It seems very plausible – Eloy served me the best Pisco Sour I have ever had.
Maranga and the Lima Culture
In the heart of Pre-Columbian Lima, at the time of the arrival of the Spanish, a vast city was found south of the Rimac River between modern day Lima and Callao. Certainly the administrative centre of power in northern part of the Inca province of Ischma, with Pachacamac an important centre of the south, this city was built long before by the native “Lima Culture” who lived here. Today most of this important complex has been destroyed through the efforts of the Peruvian Government, the University of San Marcos and the Peruvian people in the earlier part of the last century – a time when Peruvians couldn’t care less about their ancient past. Remaining though, and some now finally being restored, are several large huacas, pyramidal mounds, that bare testament to Lima’s long history.
Huaca Mateo Salado
Found at at the Plaza de la Bandera where the district of Pueblo Libre meets Breña and Lima Cercado, the ruins of five pyramids that make up this Lima Culture complex called Huaca Mateo Salado tower over the surrounding modern houses.
Watch: Secret of the Incas (1954)
“An Incan legend states that the Inca Empire was destroyed by the gods when a gold and jeweled starburst was stolen from the Temple of the Sun centuries ago, and that the ancient civilization will be reborn once the treasure is returned. Harry Steele (Charlton Heston), an American adventurer, is seeking the artefact, as is his nemesis Ed Morgan (Thomas Mitchell), along with Elena Antonescu (Nicole Maurey), an Iron Curtain refugee.” – Watch the full movie here.
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Quechua
It is often considered to be the language of the Incas, invented by them and spread across the Andes. The truth is that this family of languages is much older, far more diverse and far more interesting than you imagined.
Destruction of Lima’s architectural heritage [Featured]
Lima grows ever higher. In districts like Miraflores, Chorrillos, Barranco and San Isidro are loosing more and more of of their traditional homes, the majority of which built in the early 1900s. They are forced to make way for grand towers and modern apartments that ignore the style of the surrounding area and simply don’t fit. Worse still many defy urban-planning rules implemented by local municipalities.
Japanese hostage crisis and Operation Chavin de Huantar
In the evening of the 17th of December 1996, hundreds of senior diplomats, government ministers and other VIPs were attending a party at the official residence of Japan’s ambassador to Peru, Morihisha Aoki, in celebration of Emperor Akihito’s 63rd birthday.
Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Perú
If you plan to visit only one museum while in Lima it should probably be this one. The National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology and History of Peru beats the Museo de la Nacion, which can close for a month or two at a time with little notice, hands down. Located in the district of Pueblo Libre, in the beautiful little plaza, there’s no excuse not to try some of Lima’s world-renowned food while you are there.
Yma Sumac
Probably Peru’s greatest artist and definitely the best known internationally, female soprano Yma Sumac is nothing less than a legend.
Born Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chavarri del Castillo, she is said to be a direct descendent of Inca Atahualpa on the part of her mother, Ima Shumaq, though this, as well as her exact year and town of birth, isn’t truly known by anyone other than the woman herself.
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