Lima

State

Lima Province

Country

Peru

Continent

South America

Size

2,672 KM²

Population

10,882,757

Spending Budget

$1,601 - $3,201

Famous For

Peruvian catacombs

Best Time to Visit

January
February
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

History

Lima was named by natives in the agricultural region known by native Peruvians as Limaq. It became the capital and most important city in the Viceroyalty of Peru. Following the Peruvian War of Independence, it became the capital of the Republic of Peru (República del Perú). Around one-third of the national population lives in the metropolitan area. Lima is home to one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the New World. The National University of San Marcos, founded on 12 May 1551, during the Viceroyalty of Peru, is the first officially established and the oldest continuously functioning university in the Americas.

Present Day

Nowadays, the city is considered to be the political, cultural, financial and commercial center of the country. Internationally, it is one of the thirty most populated urban agglomerations in the world. Due to its geostrategic importance, it has been defined as a "beta" city. Jurisdictionally, the metropolis extends mainly within the province of Lima and in a smaller portion, to the west, within the Constitutional Province of Callao, where the seaport and the Jorge Chávez Airport are located. Both provinces have regional autonomy since 2002. In October 2013, Lima was chosen to host the 2019 Pan American Games; these games were held at venues in and around Lima, and were the largest sporting event ever hosted by the country. It also hosted the APEC Meetings of 2008 and 2016, the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in October 2015, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December 2014, and the Miss Universe 1982 contest.

Future

In Lima, the focus selected was scaling up the reuse of wastewater in green productive areas in an extremely water scarce environment (only 13 mm rainfall per year). Key players included national ministries, national water authority, local governments, and an NGO. The project developed learning alliances both at national level focusing on policy issues and at local level linked to a demonstration project and related research. The main outcomes were a successful demonstration project showing how water could be safely reused for multiple purposes, and the development and official approval by government of new national policy guidelines that promote safe re-use of wastewater in the country.

Must Visit Places ------------

Plaza de Armas

Also called Plaza Mayor, this broad square is the historical center of Lima and the most logical starting point for sightseeing. Most of the buildings from the original city were lost in the earthquake of 1746 - the only original structure standing in Lima's Plaza de Armas is the bronze fountain in the center, built in 1651.

Convento de San Francisco

San Francisco church and its monastery are most famous for their catacombs containing the bones of about 10,000 people interred here when this was Lima's first cemetery. Below the church is a maze of narrow hallways, each lined on both sides with bones. In one area, a large round hole is filled with bones and skulls arranged in a geometrical pattern, like a piece of art.

Cathedral

Lima's cathedral dominates the east side of the Plaza de Armas. Construction began on the original cathedral in 1535, and it was enlarged in 1564, based on the design of the cathedral in Seville, Spain. It was damaged by an earthquake in 1687 and almost destroyed by the big quake of 1746 but was quickly rebuilt to its present appearance.

Circuito Magico del Agua

The Magic Water Tour was opened in the Park of the Reserve in 2007, and within a year counted two million visitors. It holds the record for the largest fountain complex in the world, with 13 separate fountains. The largest, the Fuente Mágica, shoots a jet of water more than 80 meters high, while the Fuente Túnel de las Sorpresas.

Parque del Amor

You won't find a more romantic spot to watch the sunset than the Parque del Amor (Park of Love) on the Malecón in Miraflores. Mosaic designs created from tiny tiles line the undulating walls, often compared to those designed by Antoni Gaudí for Parc Güell in Barcelona, Spain.

Miraflores

On cliffs above the ocean, just south of central Lima, Miraflores is a neighborhood of modern glass-and-steel commercial buildings mixed with some fine old colonial homes and lots of green space. Here is where you'll find smart shops and restaurants serving the "New Peruvian" cuisine that's drawing worldwide attention in culinary circles.

Museo de la Nacion

As the largest museum in Lima, the Museo de la Nacion is the best place to begin exploring Peru's ancient history and gain an understanding of Peruvian culture. The museum covers the entire archeological history of Peru, from the first inhabitants to the Inca Empire. Exhibits of ceramics and textiles, along with scale models of archeological sites such as Machu Picchu and the Nazca lines are arranged in chronological order to show the progression from one culture to the next.

Larco Museum

South of central Lima in Pueblo Libre is the Rafael Larco Herrera Museum, more commonly called the Larco Museum. The 18th-century viceroy mansion that houses it was built on the site of a pre-Columbian pyramid from the 7th century. The Larco Museum contains a huge collection of more than 40,000 pieces of Peruvian ceramics, a large portion of which is from the Moche and Chimú cultures.

Santo Domingo

Built in 1540 on land given to the Dominican Friar Vicente Valverde by Francisco Pizarro, the church and monastery of Santo Domingo is one of the oldest and most historic in Lima. Here, you will find the relics of Saint Rose of Lima; San Juan Masias; and Saint Martin de Porres, the first black saint in the Americas. The statue of Saint Rose was given to Santo Domingo by Pope Clement X.

Huaca Pucllana

The pyramid-shaped temple of Huaca Pucllana lies in the heart of Miraflores and is now incongruously surrounded by buildings. Built of adobe and clay bricks - a construction material that would never have survived for more than 1,000 years in any other climate - the pyramid is formed in seven staggered platforms. The Lima Culture, by whom the pyramid was built, developed in the central coast of Peru between AD 200 and AD 700.