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LIMA
More than 400 years ago, the Spanish
conqueror ("conquistador") Francisco
Pizarro named Lima the City of the
Kings ("Ciudad de los Reyes").
Nowadays, that same city, which rose
from the lands of the native chief
Taulischusco, is a metropolis of
over 7 million people who proudly
preserve the colonial convents and
mansions which are symbols of their
ancient and noble traditions.
Lima, capital of Peru, founded on
January 18, 1535, is a modern city
which, while constantly expanding,
has also managed to maintain the
elegance of its Historic Center.
Declared a UNESCO World Heritage
Center, due to the large number of
artistic monuments found there,
Historic Lima is an enchanting haven
of a period long gone.
Lima's Cathedral, which City Fathers
began building on the very day of
the city's foundation; the Church
and Convent of San Francisco, due to
its harmony of volume and color,
considered by some as the greatest
architectural complex of its kind in
Latin America, and Santo Domingo,
with its beautiful main cloister,
are but a few of the invaluable
treasures which provide evidence of
Lima's deep religious faith.
Similarly, mansions such as the
House of Aliaga ("Casa Aliaga"),
built upon the private temple of the
chief Taulichusco; the House of
Goyeneche or Rada ("Casa Goyeneche
or Rada"), with its obvious French
influences; and the Torre Tagle
Palace ("Palacio de Torre Tagle"),
the most beautiful of Lima's early
18th century mansions, all symbolize
the splendor and ostentation of the
Viceregal era.
Built on the banks of the River
Rimac, and caressed by the waters of
the Pacific Ocean, the city of Lima
also preserves traces of its pre-Hispanic
period; most notably the great
sanctuary of Pachacamac, where a god
of the same name was worshipped, and
the 'huaca' Pucllana, in the
district of Miraflores, an important
administrative center of the Lima
culture (400 AC).
Lima's name comes from the 'aymara'
word lima-limac or limac-huayta, the
name of a yellow flower; or from the
quechua īrimacī meaning 'speaker'.
Because of these links with the pre-Hispanic
past, its colonial past and the
strong religious faith it gave it;
its modern outlook and its festive
nature, which bathes its eternally
gray sky in color, Lima, will always
be the City of the Kings.
PERU NEW DISCOVERY
Calle
Triunfo, 392 Off.210
Arte Inka Shoping Center - Cusco -
Peru
Phono: +51-84-235190
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+51-84-984-606757
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+51-84-984051597
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