The Lima city walls were built by Viceroy Melchor de Navarra y Rocafull between 1684 and 1687 to protect Lima against attacks from pirates and privateers. They included 34 bulwarks and eleven gates (ten at the city and one at the other side of the river); their total cost was estimated at 400,000 Spanish dollars. The walls were torn down in 1872 under the presidency of José Balta as part of the expansion process of the city.
Some sections of the walls of Lima can still be seen today. Part of the wall has been restored at the back of the Church of San Francisco, near the Government Palace; this area now constitutes the public Parque de la Muralla (Park of the Wall). In this park it is possible to observe remains of the wall's foundations. In the 1980s, a developer was beginning excavations at the site near the Rimac River and these walls were discovered and later converted into the park.
Famous quotes containing the words walls of, walls and/or lima:
“Yet, when the walls of flesh grow weak,
In such an hour it may well be,
Through mist and darkness, light will break,
And each anointed sense will see.”
—Ernest Christopher Dowson (1867–1900)
“Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass,
Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron,
Can be retentive to the strength of spirit.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a description of the ruins of St. Paul’s, like the editions of Balbec and Palmyra.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)