When Francisco Pizarro founded Lima in 1535, he laid out a rectangular square and reserved its eastern side for the cathedral. Nearly five centuries later, the Plaza Mayor still governs the plan of the old city, framed by the government palace, the archbishop's residence with its carved wooden balconies, and the great facade of the cathedral itself. The building has been repeatedly damaged by earthquakes and repeatedly rebuilt, which is why its history is legible as a sequence: Renaissance proportions in the portal, Baroque exuberance in the choir stalls and side chapels, timber and lightweight vaulting adopted to survive seismic shock. Inside, carved chapels, colonial paintings and a tomb associated with the conqueror himself trace the alliance of church and empire that shaped the viceroyalty. Part of the historic centre of Lima inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, the ensemble offers an unusually clear reading of how a colonial capital was designed, destroyed and rebuilt on the same ground.
