City of Lima....Figure and Division....Walls....Bridge....Houses
....Churches....Manner of Building....Parishes....Convents....
Nunneries....Hospitals....Colleges...._Plasa Mayor_....Market....
Interior of the Viceroy's Palace....Ditto Archbishop's Ditto....
Ditto Sagrario....Ditto Cathedral....Ditto Cavildo.
The figure of the city of Lima approaches to that of a semicircle,
having the river Rima for its diameter; it is two miles long from east
to west, and one and a quarter broad from the bridge to the wall; it is
chiefly divided into squares, the length of each side being 130 yards;
but in some parts approaching to the wall this regularity is not
preserved; all the streets are straight, and they are generally about 25
feet wide; the place contains 157 _quadras_, being either squares or
parallelograms, with a few diagonal intersections towards the
extremities of the city.
The wall which encloses Lima, except on the side bordering on the river,
is built of _adobes_, sun-dried bricks, each brick being twenty inches
long, fourteen broad and four thick; they are made of clay, and contain
a very large quantity of chopped straw: these bricks are considered as
better calculated than stone to resist the shocks of earthquakes, and
from their elasticity they would probably be found pretty tough in
resisting a cannonading; however, of this there is little risk. The
walls are on an average twelve feet high, with a parapet three feet on
the outer edge: they are about ten feet thick at the bottom, and eight
at the top, forming a beautiful promenade round two-thirds of the city.
The wall is flanked with thirty-four bastions, but without embrasures;
it has seven gates and three posterns, which are closed every night at
eleven o'clock, and opened again every morning at four. This wall of
enclosure more than of defence was built by the Viceroy Duke de la
Palata, and finished in the year 1685; it was completely repaired by the
Viceroy Marquis de la Concordia, in the year 1808. All the gateways are
of stone, and of different kinds of architecture; that called _de
maravillas_, leading towards the pantheon, is very much ornamented with
stucco work.
At the south east extremity of the city is a small citadel called Santa
Catalina; in it are the artillery barracks, the military depôt, and the
armoury. It is walled round and defended by two bastions, having small
pieces of artillery. The Viceroy Pezuela being an officer of artillery,
and formerly commandant of the body guard at Lima, paid great attention
to the citadel, and expended considerable sums of money in altering and
repairing it during the time of his viceroyalty.
The bridge leading from the city to the suburb called San Lazaro is of
stone; it has five circular arches, and piers projecting on each side;
those to the east are triangular next the stream, and those on the
opposite side are circular; on the tops are stone seats, to which a
number of fashionable people resort and chat away the summer evenings.
From eight to eleven o'clock, or even later, it is remarkably pleasant,
both on account of the quantity of people passing to and fro, and from
the river being at this season full of water. On the east side the water
falls from an elevated stone base about five feet high, and forms a
species of cascade, the sound of the falling water adding much to the
pleasure enjoyed during the cool evenings of a tropical climate. At the
south end of the bridge is a stone arch, crowned with small turrets and
stucco, having a clock and dial in the centre; the whole was built and
finished by the order of the Viceroy Marquis of Montes Claros, in the
year 1613.
The general aspect of the houses in Lima is novel to an Englishman on
his first arrival; those of the inferior classes have but one floor, and
none exceed two; the low houses have a mean appearance, too, from their
having no windows in front. If the front be on a line with the street
they have only a door, and if they have a small court-yard, patio, a
large heavy door opens into the street. Some of the houses of the richer
classes have simply the ground floor, but there is a patio before the
house, and the entrance from the street is through a heavy-arched
doorway, with a coach house on one side; over this is a small room with
a balcony and trellis windows opening to the street. Part of these
houses have neat green balconies in front, but very few of the windows
are glazed. Having capacious patios, large doors and ornamented trellis
windows, beside painted porticos and walls, with neat corridors, their
appearance from the street is exceedingly handsome. In some there is a
prospect of a garden through the small glazed folding doors of two or
three apartments; this garden is either real or painted, and contributes
very much to enliven the scenery. The patios, in summer, have large
awnings drawn over them, which produce an agreeable shade; but the flat
roofs, without any ornaments in front, present an appearance not at all
pleasing; if to this we add the sameness of the many dead walls of the
convents and nunneries, some of the streets must naturally look very
gloomy.
Of the principal churches the fronts are elegant and the steeples more
numerous and more elevated than might be expected in a country so
subject to earthquakes as Peru. The architecture displayed in the
façades of these churches is more worthy of being called a peculiar
composite than any regular order; but in a great many instances this
peculiarity is pleasing: a particular description of them will be given
in the course of this work.
The outer walls of the houses are generally built of adobes as far as
the first floor, and the division walls are always formed of canes,
plastered over on each side; this is called _quincha_: the upper story
is made first of a frame-work of wood; canes are afterwards nailed or
lashed with leather thongs on each side the frame-work; they are then
plastered over, and the walls are called _bajareque_. These additions so
considerably increase their bulk, that they seem to be composed of very
solid materials, both with respect to the thickness which they exhibit,
and the cornices and other ornaments which adorn them. Porticos, arches,
mouldings, &c. at the doorways are generally formed of the same
materials. Canes bound together and covered with clay are substituted
also for pillars, as well as other architectural ornaments, some of
which being well executed, and coloured like stone, a stranger at first
sight easily supposes them to be built of the materials they are
intended to imitate. The roofs being flat are constructed of rafters
laid across, and covered with cane, or cane mats, with a layer of clay
sufficient to intercept the rays of the sun, and to guard against the
fogs. Many of the better sort of houses have the roofs covered with
large thin baked bricks, on which the inhabitants can walk; these
asoteas, as they are called, are very useful, and are often overspread
with flowers and plants in pots; they also serve for drying clothes and
other similar purposes. Among the higher classes the ceilings are
generally of pannel work, ornamented with a profusion of carving; but
among the lower they are often of a coarse cotton cloth, nailed to the
rafters and whitewashed, or painted in imitation of pannel work. In
several of the meaner, however, the canes or cane mats are visible.
Some of the churches have their principal walls and pillars of stone;
others of adobes and bajareque; the towers are generally of the latter
work, bound together with large beams of Guayaquil wood; the spires are
commonly of wood work, cased over with planks, and painted in imitation
of stone; with mouldings, cornices and other ornaments, either of wood
or stucco.
In large buildings of every description there is generally a great
proportion of timber, keeping up a connection from the foundation to the
roof; thus there is less danger from the shocks of earthquakes than if
they were built of brick or more solid materials; for the whole building
yields to the motion, and the foundation being combined with the roof
and other parts, the whole moves at the same time, and is not so easily
thrown down. I suggested to a friend in Lima the idea of placing between
every tenth layer of adobes one of long canes; this he put in practice,
and afterwards informed me, that it was considered a great improvement,
so much so, that he thought the plan would be generally adopted,
especially as it produced a saving of timber, which is a dear article;
had also the effect of preventing the walls from cracking by the shocks
of earthquakes, and was equal to that of rafters of wood or frame-work
and bajareque.
The city is divided into four parishes, the Sagrario, with three
rectors; Saint Ann, two; Saint Sebastian, two; Saint Marcelo, one. Here
are two chapels of ease, that of Saint Salvador in the parish of Saint
Ann, and that of the Orphans in the parish of the Sagrario. Over the
bridge are the suburbs of Saint Lazaro, with one rector, a curate at the
Cabesas and another at Carabaillo, five leagues from the city, beside
several chapels on the different plantations. In the Cercado there is a
parish of indians, founded by the Jesuits, and formerly under their
care.
The convents are numerous. I shall first give a list of them, and
afterwards mention those that are individually worthy of notice.
{ La casa grande.
San Francisco 3 { Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe } in the suburbs.
{ Recoleto de San Diego }
{ La casa grande.
{ Recoleta de la Magdalena.
Santo Domingo 4 { Santo Tomas, college for studies.
{ Santa Rosa, hermitage.
{ Casa grande.
{ San Ildefonso, college for studies.
San Augustin 4 { Nuestra Señora de guia, for novices.
{ Cercado, college, formerly of the Jesuits.
{ Casa grande.
La Merced 3 { San Pedro Nolasco, college for studies.
{ Recoleta de Belen.
{ San Pedro, formerly colegio maximo of the
San Pedro 1 { Jesuits, now Oratorio de San Felipe Neri.
{ Nuestra Señora de los Desamparados, formerly
Desamparados 1 { belonging to the Jesuits, now to the Oratorio
{ de San Felipe Neri.
{ Angonizantes, buena muerte.
San Camilo 2 { Recoleta, in the suburbs of San Lazaro.
San Francisco 2 { San Francisco de Paula, minims, new.
de Paula { Do. old, both in the suburbs of San Lazaro.
{ Nuestra Señora de Montserrat, hospicio of the
San Benedicto 1 { Benedictine Monks.
{ Convalecencia of San Rafael.
San Juan de Dios 2 { Nuestra Señora del Carmen, on the road to Callao.
{ Casa grande, outside the walls, for convalescents.
Bethlemitas 2 { Incurables, inside the walls.
The nunneries in Lima are La Encarnacion, La Concepcion, Santa Catalina,
Santa Clara, Las Trinitarias, El Carmen Alto, Santa Teresa, or Carmen
Baxo, Descalsos de San Jose, Capuchinas de Jesus Maria, Nasarenas,
Mercedarias, Santa Rosa, Trinitarias descalsas. El Praso, and Nuestra
Señora de Copacavana for indian ladies.
The following are _beaterios_, houses of seclusians, which do not take
the monastic vows: Santa Rosa de Viterbo, Nuestra Señora del Patrocinio,
San Jose for women divorced from their husbands, and the Recogidas for
poor women, somewhat similar to the Magdalen Hospital in London.
Each of these religious houses has a church or chapel, making in the
whole as follows:--
Parish Churches 6
Semi-parochias, chapels of ease 2
Conventual Churches and Chapels 44
--
52
--
Besides these each hospital has a chapel; many of the convents also
have chapels attached to them: San Francisco has that of Los Dolores and
El Milagro, and several of the principal inhabitants have private
oratories, there being altogether upwards of one hundred places of
worship, supporting more than eight hundred secular and regular priests,
and about three hundred nuns, with a great number of lay brothers and
sisters.
Lima has the following hospitals, each appropriated to some peculiar
charity:--
San Andres, for Spaniards and maniacs--Santa Ana, for indians--San
Bartolome, for negroes and African castes--San Pedro, for poor
ecclesiastics--El Espiritu Santo, for seamen--San Pedro Alcantara, for
females--La Caridad, for females--Bethlemitas, for females, opposite the
convent--San Lazaro, for lepers; in addition to the three already
mentioned.
The Colleges in Lima are:--Santo Toribio, an ecclesiastical
seminary--San Martin, afterwards San Carlos, now San Martin again, for
secular studies--Colegio del Principe, for Latin grammar and the sons of
indian caciques, besides the conventual colleges, where many of the
lower classes are taught Latin, and some branches of science, gratis, by
the friars.
The _plasa mayor_, principal square, stands nearly in the centre of the
city (the suburbs of San Lazaro being included) about 150 yards from the
bridge; on the north side stands the Viceroy's palace, having an
ornamented gateway in the centre, where the horse guards are stationed;
this front is 480 feet long: the lower part is divided into petty
pedlars' shops, filled with all kinds of wares, open in front, the doors
which enclose them being thrown back; so that those of one shop meet
those of two neighbouring ones, and all of them are generally adorned
with part of the stock in trade, hung on them for sale. Over these runs
a long gallery, with seats rising one above another, for the
accommodation of the inhabitants when there is any féte in the square;
on the top there is a railing, carved in imitation of balustrades. At
the north-west corner is a gallery for the family of the Viceroy, which
on days of ceremony was fitted up with green velvet hangings, ornamented
with gold lace and fringe; a state chair to correspond being placed for
his Excellency in the centre. It was here that the Viceroy Marquis de
Castel-forte presented himself to witness the death of the innocent
Fiscal Antequera, in 1726; here LORD COCHRANE stood, when the
independence of Lima was declared in 1821; and from hence the medals
commemorative of that glorious day were distributed.
On the east side is the cathedral, having a light ornamented façade,
with large folding doors in the centre and smaller ones on each side,
surmounted by a handsome balustrade and two steeples, each of which
contains a peal of fine-toned bells, a clock and dials. The entrance to
this rich building is by a flight of steps, the area being ten feet
above the level of the plasa. On the north side of the cathedral is the
Sagrario, with a very beautiful façade; and adjoining stands the
Archbishop's palace, which surpasses in appearance every other building
in the square. Green balconies, glazed, run along the front, on each
side of an arched gateway, which leads into the patio; but the lower
part is disgraced with small shops, the nearest one to the Sagrario
being a _pulperia_, grog shop! Under the area of the cathedral there is
also a range of small shops, one of which formerly belonged to Don
Ambrosio Higgins, who was a pedlar and failed. He afterwards went to
Chile, entered the army, obtained promotion, discovered the city of
Osorno, and was honoured with the title of Marquis of Osorno. In 1786 he
returned to Lima in the high capacity of Viceroy, and found his old
friend and brother pedlar, La Reguera, enjoying the archiepiscopal
mitre: a coincidence of good fortune not often equalled. La Reguera had
some time before left Lima for Spain, his native country, and having
been more fortunate in trade than Higgins, had prosecuted his studies,
and returned archbishop in 1781.
On the south side is a row of private houses, having a balcony and
trellis windows: over the piazza, which is ten feet broad, the pillars
are of stone; a row of mercers' and drapers' shops occupies the piazza,
and between the pillars are stationed a number of men, principally
indians, employed in making fringe, silk buttons, epauletts, &c.; hence
it is called, _el portal de botoneros_. In the middle of this piazza is
_el callejon de petateros_, remarkable as being the site of Pizarro's
palace, and where he was murdered.
The west side is similar to the south, and at the north end of it is the
_casa consistorial_, corporation house; under it is the city gaol, in
front of which is the council hall, which has on one side the door a
canopy over the royal arms. Under this the alcaldes formerly stood to
administer justice. Here it was that, some years ago, the young Viscount
de San Donas sentenced the coachman of Judge Nuñes to receive a hundred
lashes for carrying prohibited arms: the man was tied to an ass, and the
hangman, having inflicted twenty-five stripes, was marching him to the
next corner to administer the same number, when the judge, informed of
the affair, left the audience chamber, and proceeded in his robes to the
rescue of his servant; but in this he was prevented by the alcalde; the
judge became boisterous,--the punishment was continued; at length his
lordship insulted the alcalde, who immediately ordered his alguazils to
seize him and conduct him to the court gaol, where San Donas confined
him in a dungeon, took the keys, went home, ordered his horse, and left
the city. When he returned in the evening he waited on the Viceroy,
Castel-forte, who urgently interceded for the judge; but the alcalde
kept him in prison until he apologised for his improper attempt to
prevent a magistrate from enforcing the execution of a lawful sentence.
In the centre of the square is a beautiful brass fountain, erected by
the Viceroy Count de Salvatierra in 1653. The basin is very capacious:
in the middle rises a brass column twenty two feet high, on the top of
which is a small cupola supported by four pillars; the whole is
surmounted by a figure of Fame. Through the trumpet water is ejected;
but the greater portion rises within the dome, after which it falls into
a large basin, from thence into another of greater dimensions, and from
thence through four orifices into a basin which has an ornamented brass
enclosure, surmounted by four treble lions, ejecting water from their
mouths into the basin. There are also four smaller fountains at the
angles of the central one, having each a brass pillar five feet high,
with four orifices, whence water issues. The water is the best in Lima,
and at all hours of the day the carriers are busy in conveying it to
different parts of the city. For this purpose they have a mule, with a
pack-saddle and two hoops affixed to it, into which they put two
barrels, each containing about ten gallons, behind which a man generally
jumps up and rides. The carrier has a thick stick with an inverted iron
hook near the top, with which he props one barrel when he takes out the
other. If the water be for sale a small bell is attached to one of the
hoops, which continues tinkling as the mule trots along. The price is
one real for the two barrels.
In this square the principal market is held, and one of the greatest
luxuries which the eye can witness is enjoyed by visiting it about five
or six o'clock in the morning, when the articles for sale are just
brought in. It is divided into several compartments by rows of large
pebbles, which are placed merely to limit the venders, and prevent
their encroaching on the public walks. The butchers' market is generally
well supplied with excellent beef and mutton; but calves and lambs are
never killed, this being prohibited by an old law for the promotion of
the breed of cattle. Pork is sold in one part; in another all kinds of
salted and dried meats, principally brought from the interior; these are
_charque_, jerked beef; _sesina_, beef salted and smoked or dried in the
sun: hams, bacon, and frozen kid from the mountains, which last is most
delicate eating: there are likewise many kinds of sausages; salt fish,
principally _bacalao_, from Europe; _tollo_, _congrio_, and corbina. The
fish market is in some seasons abundantly supplied from the neighbouring
coasts with corbina, _jureles_, mackerel, _chita_, plaice, turbot, peje
rey, lisa, anchovies, &c., and most excellent crayfish, _camarones_,
from the rivers, some of which are six or seven inches long. Fish is
generally cheap; but during Lent, and particularly in Passion Week, it
is excessively dear; which arises from the indians enjoying the
exclusive privilege of fishing, and being at that time of the year too
much occupied with their religious duties to attend to their regular
business. Indeed no indian will fish on the Thursday, Friday, or
Saturday in Passion Week; and I have seen a fish sold on those days for
twenty or twenty-five dollars, which at other times might have been
bought for one, or even less.
The poultry market is divided, one place being set apart for the live,
and another for the dead. Poultry is almost always dear; a turkey costs
from three to five dollars; a fowl from one to two dollars; ducks,
Muscovy, the same price; pigeons half a dollar each; geese are seldom
seen in the market, for as the natives never eat them, very few are
bred. Here is also a market for all kinds of pulse--beans of several
descriptions, peas, lentils, maize of five or six kinds, _gurbansos_,
quinua, &c. The vegetable market contains every description of
horticultural produce known in England, as well as the _arracacha_,
_yuca_, casava root, _camote_, sweet potatoe, yam, _oca_, &c. The
vegetables are remarkably fine, in great abundance, and generally cheap.
The fruit market is splendid, furnishing the most delicious fruits of
Europe--the grape of several varieties, the peach, apricot and
nectarine, the apple, the pear, the pomegranate, the quince, the tomate,
and the strawberry; and an abundance of luscious tropical fruits--the
pine, the melon, badeas, granadillas, sapote, lucuma, nisperos, guavas,
paltas, guanabanas, custard apples, the sweet and sour orange, lime,
and lemon, the shaddock, the citron, the plantane, the banana, and above
all the chirimoya, the queen of tropical fruits. The portion allotted to
the flower sellers is appropriately called the _calle del peligro_,
street of danger; for here the gentle fair resort, and their gallant
swains watch the favourable opportunity of presenting to them the
choicest gifts of Flora. This corner of the market, at an early hour in
the morning, is truly enchanting; the fragrance of the flowers, their
beauty and quantity, and the concourse of lovely females--altogether
would persuade a stranger that he had found the Muses wandering in
gardens of delight! In the vicinity stands a _fresquera_, vender of iced
lemonade, pine-apple water, _orchata_, almond milk, pomegranate water,
&c. which offer another opportunity for gallantry. It is no exaggeration
in the citizens of Lima when they assert, that they have one of the
finest markets in the world, for every thing in art and nature
contributes to its support: the beautiful climate near the coast, the
vicinity of the mountains, where all climates may be found, from the
ever-during snow to perpetual sunshine--send their abundant and rich
produce to this cornucopia of Ceres and Pomona.
The interior of the Viceroy's palace is very mean; but it is said to
have been a magnificent building before it was destroyed by an
earthquake on the 20th October, 1687. Its principal entrance is on the
west side, in a narrow street leading to the bridge from the plasa; to
the right of the entrance is the guard-room, where a company of
infantry, a captain, lieutenant, and ensign are stationed: to the left
there are four flights of steps leading to the _sala de los Vireys_, at
the door of which is a guard of halberdiers, dressed in blue coats with
full trimming of broad gold lace, crimson waistcoat and breeches with
gold lace, silk stockings, velvet shoes, a laced hat, and a halberd.
These soldiers are generally of good families: they are twenty-five in
number, and the captain, their only officer, was always a young
nobleman, because the situation was considered as highly honourable.
Each Viceroy nominated a captain on his arrival. Don Diego Aliaga, son
to the Marquis de Lurigancho, was captain to Abascal and Pezuela. The
_sala de los Vireys_, so called on account of its containing full-length
portraits of all the Viceroys from Pizarro to Pezuela,[5] was used only
on days of ceremony, when the Viceroy stood under a canopy of crimson
velvet, trimmed with gold, and received in the name of the King the
compliments addressed to him, which however were generally set speeches,
studied for the occasion. The Regent pronounced the first harangue, then
followed the controller of the tribunal of accompts, the dean in the
name of his chapter, the alcalde of the first vote, the prior of the
consulate, the inquisitor mayor, the commissary of the crusade, the
rector of the university, a senior collegian from each college, and a
master friar from each community. These levees were called _dias de besa
manos_, which ceremony was performed _de facto_ in Madrid, the whole
court kissing the King's hand, and this was almost the only ceremony
which the royal representative in Lima dispensed with.
To the right of this hall there is a narrow corridor, looking into a
small garden on the right, having a suite of rooms on the left, which on
days of ceremony were used as assembly rooms; there are also some
closets, which may serve as sleeping rooms or studies, each having a
small glazed balcony next the street. Two young British officers,
belonging to the Briton, were one night detected by the sentry
attempting to pay a visit, at one of those commodious _ventanas_, to
Miss Ramona Abascal, the Viceroy's daughter, and her female companion.
The young ladies made fast the end of the sash belonging to Mr. B., but
an unfortunate laugh alarmed the intruding sentry. From the north-west
corner another range of rooms extends along the north side, which leads
to those of the pages and other domestics; on the east side of the
garden there is a terrace forming a passage to a range of apartments,
where the chaplain, surgeon and secretary usually resided. A private
passage under the terrace leads to one of those rooms constructed by the
Viceroy Amat, for the purpose of receiving the midnight visits of the
famous Perricholi. This name was given to the lady by her husband, an
Italian, who wishing to call her a _perra chola_, indian b----h, gave an
Italian termination to the words, and a name to his wife, by which she
was ever afterwards known in Lima. In 1810 she was living at the new
mills, at the corner of the _alameda vieja_. This circumstance I take
the liberty to mention, because persons going to Lima will often hear on
their arrival the name of this once handsome and generous woman, whose
beauty had so far influenced her admirer, the Viceroy, that she at one
time persuaded him to feed her mules at midnight, _en camisa_; and at
another obtained from him the reprieve of a criminal on the morning he
was to have suffered. In her youth she was on the stage; but she spent
her last days in seclusion, and her last dollars in works of charity.
The dining room is on the east side of the garden, and has a staircase
leading from the kitchen; it is low and dark, and has a dirty
appearance. The rooms used on public occasions have each a crimson
velvet canopy, under which were hung portraits of the reigning King and
Queen; beside some antique furniture which belonged to the palace, glass
chandeliers, &c.; but the whole was a very mean display for a Viceroy of
Peru.
The palace also contained the royal treasury, the courts of the royal
audience, the Viceroy's chapel, the county gaol, the secretary's
offices, and some others belonging to the attendants. Each front of the
palace was disgraced with mean pedlars' and shoemakers' shops, and close
to the principal entrance was a pulperia, common grog shop, for the
accommodation, I suppose, of the coachmen, footmen and soldiers on duty.
The north and south sides of this building are four hundred and eighty
feet long; the others four hundred and ten.
The interior of the archbishop's palace is but small; a flight of steps
opposite the entrance leads to a corridor that runs round the
court-yard; on the north side are the dining and drawing rooms; on the
west, fronting the plasa, are the principal levee rooms; on the south
the secretary's offices; and on the east the apartments belonging to the
domestics. The principal rooms are neatly fitted up; in some of them the
walls are covered with crimson damask, having gilt cornices and
mouldings.
The interior of the Sagrario, which may be called the principal parish
church, or matrix, is more splendid than rich; the roof is beautifully
pannelled, having a cupola in the centre, resting on the four corners
formed by the intersection of the cross aisle; it is lofty, and the
several altars are splendidly carved, varnished and gilt. Great part of
the high altar is cased with silver; the sacrarium is highly finished,
and the custodium of gold, richly ornamented with diamonds and other
precious stones. The whole service is costly, both in plate and robes.
The baptismal font is in a small chapel on one side; it is large, and
covered with a thick casing of pure silver.
The cathedral, like all others, is spoiled by having the choir in the
centre, blocking up the view of the high altar, which otherwise would
present a most majestic appearance from the centre porch. The walls and
floor are of good freestone, and the roof, which is divided into
compartments, is most beautifully pannelled and carved; it is upheld by
a double row of neat square pillars of stone work, supporting the
arches, and corresponding with the buttresses in the walls; all these,
on festivals, are covered with Italian crimson velvet hangings, except
in Passion Week, when they are clothed with purple ones of the same
quality. Both sets are edged with broad gold lace, with a deep gold
fringe at the bottom, and festoons with lace and fringe at the top.
The lateral altars are placed in niches between the buttresses, having
ornamented gates before them, which, when opened inwards, form the
presbytery. Some of these altars are rich, but none of them handsome. At
the back of the high altar is a chapel dedicated to Saint Francisco
Xavier, in which there are effigies of two archbishops, in white marble,
kneeling before reclinatories. In this chapel was the archbishops'
burying vault, which is now closed, and they, in common with all other
people, are carried to the pantheon, where the first corpse interred was
that of Archbishop La Reguera, being exhumed for the purpose.
The throne, or high altar, has a most magnificent appearance; it is of
the Corinthian order, the columns, cornices, mouldings, pedestals, &c.
being cased with pure silver; it is also surmounted with a celestial
crown of gilt silver; in the centre is the sacrarium, richly ornamented
with chased silver work. The custodium is of gold, delicately wrought,
and enriched with a profusion of diamonds and other precious stones:
from the pedestal to the points of the rays it measures seven feet, and
is more than any moderate sized person can lift. The front of the altar
table is of embossed silver, very beautiful. On each side of the altar
is an ornamented reading desk, where the gospel and epistle are
chaunted. From the foot of the presbytery runs on either side to the
choir a railing, and the front of the choir is closed by tastefully
wrought gilt iron palisades, having two large gates in the centre. The
stalls are of carved cedar, and the state chair of curious workmanship;
it is considered as a relic, because it was used by Saint Toribio de
Mogroviejo, archbishop of Lima, from 1578 to 1606. The choral music is
very select, and the two organs finely toned. The pulpit is in the
modern taste, highly varnished and gilt.
On grand festivals this church presents an imposing coup d'oeil; the
high altar is illuminated with more than a thousand wax tapers; the
large silver candelabra, each weighing upwards of a hundred pounds; the
superb silver branches and lamps, and the splendid service of plate on
the left of the altar, are indescribably striking. The archbishop in his
costly pontifical robes is seen kneeling under a canopy of crimson
velvet, with a reclinatory and cushions of the same material; a number
of assisting priests in their robes of ceremony fill the presbytery;
from which, leading towards the choir, are seats covered with velvet, on
the left for the officers of state and the corporation, on the right for
the judges, who attend in full costume. In the centre, in front of the
altar, is a state chair covered with crimson velvet, with cushions, and
a reclinatory to match, for the Viceroy, when he attended in state,
having on each side three halberdiers of his body guard; behind him
stood his chaplain, chamberlain, groom, captain of the body guard, and
four pages in waiting. If any ceremony can flatter the vanity of man, it
must be that of offering incense to him in such a situation:--three
times during mass one of the acolites came down from the presbytery with
an incensary, and bowed to the Viceroy, who stood up amid a cloud of
smoke; the acolite bowed and retired, and the Viceroy again knelt down.
The gold and silver brocades, tissues and other stuffs, the laces and
embroidery for robes, vestments and decorations, are of the most costly
kind that can be procured. The sacred vessels, chalices, patenas,
hostiarias, &c. are often of gold, enriched with a profusion of the
rarest gems, so that nothing can display more grandeur than is beheld
here on great festivals, when divine service is performed with a pomp
scarcely to be imagined.
At the east end are two doors, corresponding with the two lateral doors
in the front, and producing a fine effect. The area is spacious, and
paved with freestone on the west, south, and east sides of this
building, and the surrounding wall is surmounted by an ornamental
palisade.
The corporation hall, sala consistorial, on the north-west side of the
plasa, or square, offers nothing worthy of notice; it is a large room,
containing benches for the members of the cavildo, a state chair and
canopy for the president, some plans of the city hanging on the walls,
and a closet for the archives.
FOOTNOTE:
[5] It is a curious circumstance, that the hall was exactly filled with
portraits when the liberating forces entered Lima, there not being one
spare pannel, nor room to place another painting, without removing some
of the old ones.