Architectural guide: Lima

The Peruvian capital is a city of paradox. The urban layout of its historic centre is the most perfect Cartesian grid in South America, yet mass migrations have generated large informal settlements. Its society lives in a permanent state of commercial frenzy, yet it has preserved the oldest traditions of the continent. And the best-known works of architecture are viceregal and republican, yet pre‑Columbian ruins are scattered across the city.
This guide contains over 160 works, covering the main styles of architecture in each period, as well as the urban processes that have underpinned the construction of such works, the economic activities that have made them possible and details of their public administration.
Until now, Lima has shown the world a gloomy, unattractive ambience. Writer Herman Melville described it as ‘the strangest, saddest city thou can’st see,’ poet César Moro as ‘Lima, the horrible’ and architect Héctor Velarde as ‘Lima, the grey.’ This guide offers a different picture: one of a vibrant, cheerful and insanely glorious city, inviting visitors and residents to see it in a new light.