Saints and Relics of Old Lima

The Iglesia Virgen del Rosario del Puente features a tall, narrow facade painted a distinctive, muted yellow that stands out against the surrounding stone. This church occupies the site where a wooden chapel first appeared in the seventeen…

The Basilica and Convent of Santo Domingo features a pink bell tower that rises high above the surrounding neighborhood of historic Lima. This complex is the oldest convent in the city, established by the Dominican friars shortly after the…

The San Agustin Church features a Churrigueresque facade carved entirely from stone, with intricate, swirling patterns that cover every inch of its surface. This ornate entryway was reconstructed in the early twentieth century after an…

The Iglesia de San Sebastian features a bell tower wrapped in intricate, deep blue and white glazed tiles that distinguish it from the surrounding stone facades of Lima. It remains one of the oldest parishes in the city, founded in fifteen…

A plain, whitewashed doorway on the Calle de Santo Domingo marks the house where Martin de Porres was born in fifteen seventy-nine. The son of a Spanish nobleman and a freed woman from Panama, Martin grew up here in relative poverty before…

The Church and Sanctuary of Santa Rosa de Lima sits on the site where Isabel Flores de Oliva, the first saint of the Americas, was born in fifteen eighty-six. A mud-brick wall, preserved behind glass, is all that remains of the original…

A rough adobe wall stands near the intersection of Tacna and Huancavelica, bearing a faded painting of a crucified Christ. This mural survived the devastating earthquake of sixteen fifty-five that leveled the rest of the city, leaving only…