"Arco Morisco" en Lima- Perú || The Moorish Arch in Lima Peru

A few days ago I published a post about a beautiful park located in the city of Lima, which I had the pleasure of visiting last year before the pandemic began. In this park there is a very interesting architectural structure which caught my attention and because of that I decided to find out a little more about its origin.

It is the famous "Arco de la amistad" also called "Arco morisco" which is located in the Parque de la Amistad in the district of Santiago de Surco in the city of Lima.

This great arch welcomes the tourists that visit this great park. At first glance you can see that it is an arch of majolica mosaics, which has some viewpoints which can be accessed by paying a small fee. From up there you can appreciate a very good view of the park grounds.

But what is the origin of this monument and what does it represent for the people of Lima? Where does its name come from? and Why is it located in that place?

After having enjoyed a nice afternoon with my family, all these questions came to my mind, that's how I started to be interested in finding information on the web that could answer my questions.

Some of those questions found answers. However, unfortunately, I could not find enough information related to the structure and architectural style of this work.
In this article I share with you a little of what I was able to find out.

The Arco de la Amistad, was a monument given by the Spanish colony to Peru on the occasion of the celebration of the centenary of its independence. The arch was inaugurated in 1924 and was originally located in the first blocks of Arequipa Avenue.

However, years later, due to the boom and growth of the city, the arch was in an awkward position that interfered with the traffic of the big city. Therefore, it was demolished in 1937 with the authorization of the rulers of the time without taking into account its condition of patrimony of the city.

This fact was not well seen by the Spanish homeland, which was resentful for several years. To remedy this terrible snub, a replica of the original arch was built and placed in the grounds of the park in Surco. It was inaugurated in 2001 and for the inauguration was attended by the King and Queen of Spain who named the new arch "Arco de la Amistad" (Arch of Friendship) in honor of the friendship that unites the two nations.

Regarding its architectural style, I was able to learn that it is a triumphal arch with a neo-Arabic style. It is also called "Moorish Arch" because of its characteristics related to Moorish architecture. It has a height of 29 meters, the materials used are cement and majolica. With respect to the design, it has majolica decorations in the form of stars and crescent moons and two minarets or towers.

This was all the information I could gather regarding the architectural part. I hope you like my publication and soon I will come back to share about other monuments that I have been able to know here in the city of Lima. Thanks for reading, greetings and blessings.