The Parque de la Muralla sits where the Rímac River meets a surviving stretch of the seventeenth-century wall that once protected Lima from pirates and invaders. Massive stone fortifications rise directly from the riverbank, remnants of…
Traces of the City Wall
This walking tour traces the footprint of Lima's colonial defensive walls from the riverbank to the city's last remaining bastion. You'll see how the threat of pirate raids shaped the streets, plazas, and gates of the historic center.
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1. Parque de la Muralla
2. Feria de Libros Amazonas
A massive concrete stretch of the Feria de Libros Amazonas covers the path where the colonial wall once stood. After the wall was demolished in the late nineteenth century to let the city breathe, this space transformed into a bustling…
3. Plazuela de Santa Clara
The Plazuela de Santa Clara features a central bronze statue of the journalist and politician Antonio Miro Quesada de la Guerra. This small, triangular plaza sits enclosed by the rear walls of the Real Monasterio de Santa Clara. In…
4. Plazuela Santo Cristo de las Maravillas
A stone cross stands at the center of this small plaza, surrounded by traditional wooden balconies that hang over the narrow streets. This spot marks the site of a colonial legend involving a carved image of Christ. According to the…
5. Plazuela del Cercado
The Plazuela del Cercado sits behind a heavy, iron gate, marked by a fountain at its center and a small colonial church that keeps the space quiet. In the seventeenth century, this site held the Jesuit mission for the indigenous population…
6. Bastion Santa Lucia
The Bastion Santa Lucia is a jagged, crumbling stone wall that traces the sharp ridge of the Cerro San Bartolomé. It was part of an ambitious defensive ring commissioned in eighteen hundred and seven by Viceroy José Fernando de Abascal to…