Holy Week long weekend (April 18-21) is coming soon, and the occasion provides a great opportunity to
visit Chan Chan —an astounding mud citadel in northern La Libertad region and one of the most important archaeological sites all over Peru.
Buildings including temples, dwellings, and storehouses are arranged around open spaces within the once 20-square-kilometer pre-Inca citadel, which housed an estimated 20,000 people.
The center of this monumental zone comprises nine large rectangular complexes ('citadels' or 'palaces').
Archaeologist Victor Piminchumo highlights the magnificence of the
Chimu architecture, mainly the walled complex Nik An, of ceremonial nature, where rituals took place in honor of dead leaders.
He also notes the presence of storehouses, used to stock products manufactured outside the area, such as crafts and metalwork.
Chan Chan's open spaces and corridors are decorated with polychrome relieves.
It must be noted that recent archaeological findings in the mud site have attracted worldwide interest.
For instance, 19
wood sculptures —dating back more than 750 years— were presented in October last year along with a decorated wall unearthed at the
Utzh An walled complex.
Chan Chan was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1986. According to the international body, the property bears a unique testimony and is the most representative city of the disappeared Chimu kingdom where eleven thousand years of cultural evolution in northern Peru are synthesized and expressed.
(END) MAO/RMB/MVB
Published: 4/8/2019