History
The Government Palace of Peru lies on the Plaza Mayor of Lima, and Pizarro used it as head office of his legislation until his assassination in 1541.
The location of the Government Palace is of historical importance for two main reasons. It was house of Taulichusco, the ruler of the Rimac Valley during that time period. This was also the location where the General José de San Martín declared the Independence of Peru on 28 July 1821.
Pizarro laid down the building in 1535, a modest two-story pile of adobe. The old Pizarro's house was built following the Castile's line. It had two big yards for troops and stables.
The palace has a had a violent history. Pizarro had scarcely finished it in 1536, when the Indians revolted and Lima was enveloped by a vast army. The building was turned into a fortress and from its adobe walls Pizarro and his mistress (she was the sister of the Inca Atahualpa whom Pizarro had strangled) could look out of their window to see the bald peak of San Cristóbal (Saint Christopher) which frowns over the city, covered with shouting Indians. The siege lasted twelve days. Scarcely was this over when Pizarro and his palace were involved again – This time with Almagro the blinkard, the one-eyed warrior who as Pizarro's partner had made possible the conquest of Peru. They were enemies now. Eventually captured, after a bloody battle, old Almagro was put to death by Pizarro's brothers; but a son survived to keep alive the feud between them. Although repeatedly warned about the younger Almagro and the disbanded men of his army; gaunt, white-bearded Francisco Pizarro paid scant heed. He was at dinner on the Sunday afternoon of 26 June 1541 when a group of soldiers, called the Knights of the Cape, entered. Shouting "Death to the tyrant", the killed his retainers and rushed into Pizarro's room, where the old warrior was fastening on his buckler. Although outnumbered ten to one, Pizarro killed two of them until, as William Prescott wrote, the rebel leader called out, "Why are we so long about it?... and taking one of his companions... he thrust him against Pizarro... who ran him through with his sword. But at the moment he received a wound in his throat, and, reeling, he sank to the floor, while the swords... were plunged in to his body". "Confession", exclaimed the dying Pizarro, when a stroke... put an end to his existence. Pizarro was rolled into a bloody shroud, taken in the still of night and buried in the Cathedral Church. There he lay unmarked until in 1977 he was fished out and put into the glass crypt in the Cathedral Church.
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