Lima Antigua 1Warning, awful english ahead
is not smart to do what i did today.. to go to a dangerous part of the city with a camera at hand and take photos.. Barrios Altos it's a very old and poor part of my homecity.. of course there are lot of beautiful and quiet places to go here, but i want to tell more about some unknow things even for the most of the Peruvians... you see, there are lot of places with some history behind, and since is our own place we don't realize or pay attention to these.. we see it everydays, on the news.. on the way to your work...
perhaps i was a little drastical to start this with "barrios altos" becouse is.. not a nice place, in fact is ugly, dirty, and dangerous.. the downtown... but is a place with a lot of story behind.. and since i took some photos today and felt inspired after many months.. i had to do it
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From a internet article:
One of the most traditional quarters of downtown Lima, this district
was home to composers, intellectuals, musicians and Bohemian types,
who took criollismo to new heights. Here one still finds some of the best
examples of colonial and republican architecture that includes the Quinta
Heeren, an area with its own plaza; the Casa de Trece Monedas, a
majestic nineteenth-century residence; the Iglesia de las Trinitarias
and the Molino de Santa Clara. Lima’s Chinatown, bordering the
Mercado Central, is home to oriental tea rooms, and restaurants serving
up exquisite varieties of Chinese food.
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Let's Start
El Molino Santa Clara
I took this photo today, i remember when i was a kid we traveled each sunday to visit the cementary and put some flowers to my grandpa's grave.. i passed on that corner like every week.. the latest years my interest on the old things raised and i discover lot of things about some places like this.. this is the Molino Santa Clara, it's called Molino (Mill) becouse they used it to process wheat and other products.. and Santa Clara becouse the name of the church at the side of the mill... it was build in 1821 (not confirmed) ...on 1845 the prosper inmigrant Josué Rainuzzo (italian of course) did lot of modifications and prepared the place to serve as mill... it works thanks to the waters of the Huatica river.. a ancient and now extinct river that crossed the street at the side of the building.. much people don't know, but there was 3 rivers that crossed the now called modern Lima, the huatica river, the surco river, and the madgalena river.. of all those 3 rivers only the surco river survive someway behind the modern building and crossing at the side of some of the more beatiful avenues of our city... even more interesting is the fact that these rivers was not natural rivers.. they was created by ancient peruvians (before inca culture) as irrigation system for their lands...
Anyway.. back to the Molino.. heres how it looked almost a century ago
photo (c) internet
Josué Rainuzzo was art fan.. he bought 17 magnificent statues to improve the look of his place, the people represented on the statues was.. Miguel Cervantes, Alejandro Volta, Andrea Doria, Rafael Sanzio, Dante Alighieri, Miguel Ángel, Maquiavelo, Víctor Alfieri y Galileo Galiei; en la parte superior estaban Víctor Manuel, Marco Polo y Diógenes; there was also some mythological figures. when the river died, the mill was closed and the statues where sold, for many days they was lost, but after some investigation people discover most of them exist spread yet in some importan buildings of the city (the national library, the Italian Art Museum.. etc)
here's another photo i took today
and here's how it looked back in those days
Of course, the first thing people think when i told this is.. "why we let these places die like that" and the fact is we have some many places to save, that the poor interest is not enought to save all them.. it's a pitty but most of them are destined to dissapear soon... but in the mean time, people like me can discover and know about these things, and much better, see them with their own eyes.. becouse they will not be there for our sons most for sure
talking about the huatica river.. i took a photo of the oposite street and i knew is saw it somewhere
browsing on internet i found this photo..
is not the same corner i'm sure.. it's a block behind.. but we can see what the huatica river was when crossed the street.
