10/18: Lima, Peru: Pageantry, Performers & Churches

After traveling for more than 12 hours the previous day from Puerto Ayora in in the Galapagos Islands to the Ecuadorian mainland and then on to Lima, the capital of Peru, we were pretty tired by the time we reached the small guesthouse. The next morning, though, we were excited to discover a new city and country. 

The daughter of the guesthouse owner was a huge help with showing us how to navigate around the huge city of Lima. Without her, getting around the city of nine million for the next several days would have been far harder.

The Lima Metropolitano bus had dedicated lanes downtown almost to the city ‘s main square Plaza de Armas so getting from Barranco, the suburb where our 'guesthouse' for lack of a better word was located, to the center was a breeze.

Also called Plaza Mayor, it was reputed to be one of Latin America’s most beautiful squares.

It was impossible to miss the mammoth Cathedral and the adjacent Archbishop’s Palace, both built in the 16th century, as we entered the square. 

There was a huge celebration going on in the square that was also spilling over onto nearby streets so that wasn’t the time to visit either of the religious institutions as we had planned. Purple flags were everywhere as were people adorned in the same shade of robes. Oops - My camera has a hard time differentiating purple from navy!

In the middle of the square was a bronze fountain from 1650.

We never did find exactly out why the square was packed with thousands and thousands of people but I believe they were celebrating the miracle of so many surviving the earthquake of 1746.

People were also on the roofs of surrounding buildings to follow the goings on in the square.

We watched as government officials came out to see the procession from the Government Palace built by the Spaniards. Liberator Jose de San Martin proclaimed Peru’s symbolic independence on July 28th, 1821, from that spot on the square.

The government building next to the Presidential Palace was also festooned with banners in honor of the procession.

As the military band played in front of the palace, we could hear as the people clapped their hands in exhilaration when the procession came into view. 

Talk about our just happening to be at the right place at the right time as we had no idea that there was going to be any sort of parade or religious procession that morning!

After waiting for a long while in anticipation of the religious procession passing right in front of us, we finally gave up as it seemed that wouldn’t happen. I took this photo from a distance thanks to my zoom lens.

Behind where we were standing was the Archbishop's Palace. More on that another time.

Vendors took advantage of the large crowd and its religious fervor by selling all sorts of trinkets and posters.

Impromptu altars had been set up on side streets in honor of the procession.

We walked to the Museo de la Inquisicion only to discover that it was closed for restoration. The building served as the headquarters of the Spanish Inquisition in all of South America from 1570 until it was abolished in 1820.

Across the street was Parque Simon Bolivar which was graced with a statue in honor of liberator Simon Bolivar. 

Next to the museum was a floral tribute on the street to the fire department in memory of their brothers that had been killed in the line of duty from 1860-2017.

 

We went on to the huge National Library where we wandered around for a few minutes.

One of the many performers on Lima's streets that caused my eye:

The Iglesia de San Pedro was our next stop. The Jesuits built three churches in rapid succession on this corner; the current one dated from 1638. It was listed as being one of the finest examples of early-colonial religious architecture in Peru.

Gilded arches on the side aisle led to chapels with exquisite hand-painted tiles.

How lucky we happened to have been there when the noon Mass was nearing an end. That way I was able to take photos before the lights were turned off moments later and the church was closed until the next Mass.

From 1653-1673, Lima Jesuit priest Francisco Del Castillo became known as 'the apostle of the Indians and blacks’ for his work of evangelization in colonial Lima. He used the wooden Cross of Baratillo during his preaching. 

The number and lavishness of the chapels boggled my mind.

This was one of many pretty pedestrian streets we’d already seen in Lima.

We were intrigued by the metal grille at Los Vitrales Restaurant so we sauntered in.

Sorry it's blurry but I thought it was worth keeping.

Iglesia San Augustin was also closed so we walked on to Iglesia de la Merced or Our Lady of Mercy hoping it would be open.

On our way, we passed the attractive Museum of Traditional and Popular Art.

Luckily The Our Lady of Mercy Church was open since so much else was closed that day. Nothing about this colonial-era church could have been called restrained! The columns of the unusual baroque facade were wrapped with grapevines.

A skinny Papa Juan Pablo II!

We remarked later we hadn’t remembered being in a church where so many people were talking on cell phones AND in such loud voices, too. The church definitely wasn’t a place to be for quiet reflection. 

Have you ever been in a church before with individual seats? We hadn’t.

I couldn't understand why there were so many 'performers' always in front of the city's beautiful churches and not at other locations.

The remarkable Plaza San Martin was surrounded on three sides by neo-colonial buildings dating from the 1920s. In the center was a massive statue of Jose de San Martin, the Argentine general who led the independence of Argentina, Chile and Peru from Spain.

We strolled from the square to the fancy hotel on the corner.

Another sign to add to my ‘bathroom sign collection’ thanks to the elegant Gran Hotel Bolivar!

We wondered what the police were expecting to warrant their massive presence and their shields as they gazed across at and then moved toward Plaza San Martin.

The adjacent street should have been called Money Exchange Row as there was one right after another!

Scotiabank had a huge presence in Peru, we soon discovered. I wonder why only that North American bank and not one other Canadian or US bank had made inroads into the country’s financial sector. Since writing these notes, we've spent a fair chunk of time in Chile where I also noticed Scotiabank had a huge presence for some reason.

The stately, former Post Office was now a House of Peruvian Gastronomy and featured chocolate especially. Too bad they didn't give out samples!

I hope you haven’t had your fill yet of seeing photos of, and reading more about, Lima’s churches because we saw still more that day! The next one was Iglesia Santo Domingo.

The church was built in 1537 by the Dominicans and was remodeled in neoclassical style in the 19th century. 

At the end of one of the naves was the Altar of the Relics with the skulls of two of the three Peruvian Dominicans to have reached sainthood: San Juan Macías, Santa Rosa de Lima and San Martín de Porres, the continent’s first black saint. 

It was the only church I recall visiting where real flowers were not allowed. The reason was concern about the number of mosquitoes that would be attracted by the flowers. 

Likewise, candles were similarly prohibited.

Seeing the small shrine dedicated to the Our Lady of Czestochowa brought back wonderful memories of our visit to the church in the small Polish town a couple of years ago to visit the Black Madonna.

Next door, the 16th century Convent of St. Dominic offered a glimpse of life in a cloister. 

The intricately-carved wooden ceiling was just stunning.

The carved balconies surrounded a courtyard with fountains.

The convent’s two cloisters were decorated with hand painted tiles imported from Spain in the early 17th century.

Beautiful baroque paintings lined the pathways under the balconies.

The stately library held 25,000 antiquarian books.

In the room that honored St. John Macias, we learned about his life. Though born in Spain, he is known as a Peruvian saint as he developed his religious passion after emigrating to Peru. He became a priest at the age of 37 and was known for his charitable works and for performing acts of miracles. He was canonized in 1975.

This was what remained of the basket the later saint used to distribute bread and collect donations for the poor. 

Visitors to the convent were encouraged to sit in the replica of the chair St. Macais used in the doorway of the Dominican Order Convent to distribute bread. According to popular tradition, those women who have trouble conceiving recover their fertility while sitting in the chair while praying. For the non-believers, the chair had a fragment of the original.

The second cloister:

In the Chapel of St. Martin de Porres, another of the Peruvian saints, the flowers were spectacular – it smelled like we’d been transported to a florist’s.

This was the crypt that I had seen from the chapel just a few minutes before.

I probably shouldn't have followed Steven down to the next crypt.

I could have done without seeing all the human bones!

From the crypts to the choir stalls:

Large format, manuscript choral books, which dated from the 16th to the 18th centuries were used by the religious community to sing their daily prayers. During the choral singing, the friars would sit in the wooden seats that formed the perimeter of the upper choir stall. The book was placed in the center of the space of a rotating lectern which would be turned slowly by one of the friars so that the score and the text could be seen by all the brothers. 

The Santo Domingo Church Tower was one of the main landmarks of Lima's historic center. The first bell tower, built in the mid-16th century, was a simple mud-brick belfry; a second similar one survived until the 1650s. In 1659, construction began on a monumental octagonal-shaped bell tower made of brick and lime. It was finally completed in 1683.

The oldest bells in the Bell Tower date from 1717. They are rung just once a week on Friday mornings at 8 to signify the Mass of the Lord of Justice, something brand new to me.

On the walls as we climbed to the Bell Tower was an exhibition of watercolor paintings called 'The People of Lima' by Pancho Fierro who depicted Limenos, or residents of Lima, in a procession of scenes from the past.

During colonial times, there were 200 friars at the convent and the convent extended to the blue dome and nearby building. Now with only eight friars left, the space they needed was much less so part of the convent was sold off.

A lovely view of the old city: Plaza de Armas with the Cathedral and the Archbishop’s Palace once again. It certainly looked far calmer without the morning crowds!

Once back inside, we quickly toured the carved upper choir stalls overlooking the magnificent church below.

We were told much of the work was done by the indigenous people. You don’t normally see naked women in a convent!

The final part of our tour of the amazing Convent was the Chapter Room.

The Archbishop's Palace and beside it, the Cathedral, both of which we'd seen first thing in the morning.

Another view of Government Palace, located caty corner to the Archbishop's Palace:

Flying atop the Palace was Peru's flag.

We walked along the alley next to the Government Palace to reach Casa Aliaga. We decided not to enter as the admission fee was high and we weren’t that interested in the oldest house on the continent still owned by the same family after 17 generations.

A couple of doors down from the Casa was the Museo de Sitio Bodega y Qadra, a restored home dedicated to the family of the same name featuring contrasting architecture from the colonial and republican eras and what life was like during those periods.

At the end of the alley was the old train station that had since been converted into the House of Literature.

There was one more church we toured that day in the heart of Lima but I am already 'churched out' right now having written about the exquisite Santo Domingo Church and Convent and the other churches we saw our first day. I think we must have been making up for not having our dose of religion that whole time we were off in the Galapagos, don't you think?!

Next post: Lima's Incredible Iglesia and Museo de San Francisco

Posted on December 5th, 2017, from Buenos Aires, Argentina.