San Miguel: the most interesting places in the Lima district

Hello everyone!

I hope that each one of you is well.

Continuing on with our storytelling and our places to see in Lima, we are going to continue talking about one of the most interesting districts in Lima, a district visited by many San Marquino's like myself during my time as a student at my beloved National University de San Marcos.

It is a place where we will find many different tourist attractions for all the people of Lima who pass through this part of the city every day, through the main avenue, the Avenida Marina.

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This is one of the districts that has the fortune of having access to the sea: San Miguel was founded in the year 1920, soon it will be 100 years old! The years have not passed in vain as we acnowledge that they have sculpted the face of this district.

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We are going to realise that San Miguel has a great legacy of Huacas (monuments) and places to go such as the Park of Legends. ¿Who didn't go to the Park of Legends when they were a kid? Well, we are going to see each of these places and more, and by the end of this article I hope that you like them.

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San Miguel is a developing commercial center for Lima, with it's name deriving from one of the Arch Angels, San Miguel, and there is a monument of him along the Avenida Marina with Elmer Facucett

Through this article about San Miguel we will cover:

• The Huacas and San Miguel's pre-hispanic past
• The Chapel of Santa María
• The Gardens of La Glorieta Media Luna
• The Pontifical Catholic University of Peru
• The Park of Legends
• The Old Festival del Hogar: “te llama, la llama”
• The Commercial Center - La Plaza San Miguel

San Miguel is very important because of its location, thanks to it being situated directly between modernity and the past. For example, in order to go to the International Airport of Jorge Chavez, you need to pass through some part of the district, creating a commercial movement throughout that has lasted for a couple of years.

A legacy for the people of Lima

San Miguel is a district that had the luck of being created with a park inside it, the Park of Legends, a zoological park with more than 53 archaeological sites, something which will live on and fascinate every visitor - visitors who are usually Limans with their children.

Its pre-hispanic history

Since the first centuries of the age, different cultures have established themselves here, like the ones who named the culture of Lima, they established themselves throughout the Peruvian valley from the year 100 until the year 600, they designed the pyramid structure and the aqueduct structure that have become so important.

After them, this area was taken over by the Huaris, who modified the parts already built and followed their own interests.

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During the 12th century, the decline of the Huari culture came about with the creation of new leaders, called the Ichmas. They took over the territory of San Miguel, where they constructed architectural pyramids with seats at their entrances, for example there is the Huaca Aramburu in front of the National University of San Marcos.

In the Park of Legends, we can find out how to see more than 53 archaeological sites developed after more than 2000 years of creation, making this zone called the Maranga culture zone, in their huacas we have the Huaca San Miguel, and the Huaca Tres Palos, among many others

The Curacazgo de Maranga was absorbed by the Incas during the 15th century, but the alliance was peaceful and there was no bloodshed. However, history changed with the arrival of the Spanish.

The current district was divided into what was before known as "haciendas", states, such as Pando and San Miguel, among others.

For a large part, the states enjoyed the interesting development of architecture during the 17th century whilst it was part of the territory in colonial times.

The Santa Maria chapel

Today we have a chapel inside San Miguel, known as the Santa Maria chapel, with a strong Rococo style and a simple yellow façade with white where they now give mass. It is a national heritage site of San Miguel that we must continue to value for the development of this thriving, middle-class district.

Within the ancestors of Lima, it is known that milk was provided by the Maranga state who had found it inside of the district of San Miguel. This does not exist anymore due to the development of the city and the arrival of modernity, but you can imagine that before this, there used to exist a herd of livestock inside Lima city. It's difficult to imagine, isn’t it? But it happened like so.

As we can see, San Miguel has passed through many states in the territory, as well as being a home for many immigrants with whom it slowly it became urbanized. Within those immigrants, there was Federico Galeses an Italian man who arrived at San Miguel in order to build his own home and start in some way to be a part of the urban development happening in the San Miguel district of Lima.

At the start of the 20th century, San Miguel began promoting itself as a spa, for example there was the Media Luna Park where, nowadays, is the hub of the San Miguel culture.

La Glorieta Media Luna Park

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San Miguel started to urbanise itself and change itself into one of the most visited places by Liman people, like the La Glorieta Media Luna which today is an icon and a symbol of the San Miguel district from 1933. The main colours include, baby-blue, red and white.

With the process of urbanization underway, they used the water canals to provide for the new population. The beautiful houses, the swimming pools, the sea front, and above all the center of Lima was only 15 minutes on the tram away.

People who passed through San Miguel

San Miguel was officially created on the 10th of May in 1920, it separated itself from the old district of Magdalena and its first mayor was called Francisco Galese.

Little by little, San Miguel grew and constructed buildings that decorated everywhere. However, despite all of this there was still agricultural zones throughout the territory, we can see the buildings with their French, neo-classical, neo-gothic, chalet-style exteriors, among so many other styles that are shrouded by the new streets and houses: the buildings.

There were many different immigrants, like the Italian Juan Bertolotto who had luxury restaurants along the beachfront where the President of Peru used to be one of their most well-known customers. We must mention Augusto B. Leguía, being a person who enjoyed the carnivals that occurred in San Miguel, with the spa and the hotel, where a life of party and carnivals was developing too during the roaring 20s.

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Juan Bertolotto created a new focus for tourism in Lima. During the last century, his baths have become very popular with the arrival of the streetcars that we no longer have today. A nice and enjoyable district with current access to a transport system was developing.

Little by little, the area urbanized itself as the coastal avenue by the current Costa Verde, and after that the Avenida de la Paz, it started to prosper with huge houses surrounded by gardens with fresh air.

Important people like Presidents, authors, and many others lived in San Miguel.

However, we are led to believe through certain details that at some point in history, there was a women’s jail by the Malecón Avenue, where the streetcars passed.

The arrival of new Liman people

In the decade of 1960, the problem of immigration increased greatly, and various states of San Miguel started to receive new Liman people, and new neighbourhoods were being born.

The Catholic University of Peru

A special case is that of the state of Pando, where today stands the Catholic University of Peru, the state used to be known as Pando, a state funded by Jose de la Riveguero y Osma, a man with a lot of power who decided to give the state to the University of Lima.

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The Catholic University was located before in the center of Lima in order to be close to the University campus of the National University of San Marcos, giving the name to the University Avenue.

The Park of Legends

Sadly, with the advance of progress, it has meant that there has been a loss of archaeological sites. However, they have been able to rescue many of these spaces like the Park of Legends, where there are not only many coastal, mountainous and jungle animals but also an international section where there is a botanical area and more than 53 huacas as well.

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It has been called the Park of Legends because historically, legends of the Peruvian culture are shown there through the mountains, and the sun, etc. The park was formed furing the period under President Fernando Belaunde Terry.

Inside the park, you can walk through the flowers and trees of Peru, as well as find other relaxing places for everyone. Come here and see all of this because you will be able to see many things and spend a great weekend here.

The Festival del Hogar, a past that no longer exists in San Miguel

In the history of San Miguel we have a traditional festival with the frase "it calls you, it calls you", something which really I don't remember much of, and after it became half-empty in the year 2003, it had to disappear due to the problems of those times. However, it has been a few year and they are trying to bring it back to life, but it will no longer be located in San Miguel, but in the district of Chorillos, the last time it was here I can remember I went so that I could see Laura Pausini in one of her concerts in Lima.

The Commercial Center at La Plaza San Miguel

With the years that San Miguel has been growing its commercial market we have a commercial center in the Plaza San Miguel since 1976, it is perhaps a common and ordinary but the most important thing is that is maintained through the years as well as serving as a model for other new centers that are being built throughout Lima and the Peruvian territory.

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El Plaza San Miguel is strategically placed so that it welcomes all different Liman people from other backgrounds and territories, as well as the university students from San Marcos, too. Inside the Plaza San Miguel there was a place that was visited by the old Father, Juan Pablo II during the time when Alan Garcia was the President in his first government, this event has its own monument close to the Plaza·

San Miguel boosted the real estate boom in Lima when they combined mansions, as well as having the beaches and being a connection with the parts that join many districts to the airport. For many years the enormous potential of San Miguel's strategical location by the sea has not been taken advantage of. What are we waiting for? We need to be more appreciative of the traditional and marvelous architecture that San Miguel was blessed with.

San Miguel is a discovery! It has pre-hispanic history: colonial, republican, and these days we are able to see the construction of green areas next to the sea, and we can find on the gyroscope the work that shows the enormous potential that the district of San Miguel has in order to continue developing it.

You can find lots of great restaurants in San Miguel, like if you pass the crossroads on the Avenida Maria where the Plaza San Miguel is, you will be able to find a well-known street where there is an abundance of restaurants specialising in Chicharronerías, and you can go to enjoy the delicious bread and lick the chincharron off of your fingers.

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I hope that you have liked my homage to San Miguel, each district of Lima keeps a legacy for our neighbours, Lima is not just the enclosure for Lima o Miraflores like many of the daily visitors to the capital think, Lima has so much more to offer within its metropolitan areas.

I hope you come to know San Miguel and that you allow yourself to be carried away by its places of tourist interest.

Thanks for reading this article and I will see you all at another time!

Have a great day!

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