From Ancient Observatories to Republican Museum Facades: A History of Our Peruvian Affiliate
World Monuments Fund’s (WMF) engagement in Peru has grown considerably since our 1997 support for a development rehabilitation plan for 12 blocks in the historic center of Cusco, the former Inca capital. After nearly three decades of work, WMF established our only Latin American office in Peru in 2014.
Since our first conservation project, we’ve had the privilege to work at sites across the country, from one of Lima’s leading museums to an archaeoastronomical UNESCO World Heritage site. Our Peruvian affiliate is committed to protecting the country’s heritage and enriching the lives of its citizens through projects integrating heritage, landscape, and local development.
Explore some of the spectacular sites our team has helped preserve across Peru below and view more in our Peruvian heritage slideshow.
Chankillo Archaeoastronomical Complex
Dotting a ridge in Peru’s Coastal Desert are the 13 ancient towers that form the Chankillo Archaeoastronomical Complex. The oldest observatory in the Americas, this complex allowed its users to measure time according to the position of the rising and setting sun in relation to its towers. This remarkable calendrical structure was abandoned around 200 BCE. Since 2011, archaeologists began to study this long-forgotten site. Since then, WMF has supported documentation, research, and excavations of the site, led by Dr. Iván Ghezzi.
Centuries of strong winds, humidity, and temperature fluctuations in the desert’s inhospitable climate, combined with earthquakes and other major weather events, have contributed to the site’s deterioration—prompting its inclusion on the 2010 Watch.
Since then, WMF has supported documentation, research, and excavations of the site. In addition, the project team advocated for the establishment of legal boundaries around the complex, which would ensure greater protection for its vulnerable structures. In 2016, WMF provided essential support for the conservation of five towers and in 2021, at one of the gates of the Fortified Temple. That same year, the complex was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The Palacio de la Exposición, which today houses the Museo de Arte de Lima- MALI, was designed by the Italian architect Antonio Leonardi and inspired by the European palaces of the Enlightenment period. The palace is an early example of iron construction in Peru. But over time, its facades had weathered considerably and were in serious need of intervention.
In 2020, WMF Peru was awarded a commission by the European Union as a gift for the bicentennial of Peru’s independence in order to conserve the museum’s facade, including its fluted Ionic columns, Corinthian pillasters, and plaster molding representing the arts and industry, a tribute to the 1872 Exhibition.
Located 230 miles (370 km) north of Lima, Cerro Sechín is one of the oldest coastal Andean archaeological sites in Peru. Excavations have uncovered hundreds of carved stones with vivid depictions of combat rituals and human sacrifice. Other parts of the complex, meanwhile, house 4,000-year-old murals depicting catlike creatures sacred to the region’s ancient inhabitants.
Exposure to the elements and seismic activity have caused these unique stone carvings to crack and erode. WMF included Cerro Sechín on the 2014 Watch to encourage action to address the site’s deterioration. In 2020, WMF began work to diagnose and treat the issues facing the carvings before they were more severely damaged. In 2021, thanks to the US Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation of the US Embassy in Peru, the stone slabs conservation work started, in which local residents learned conservation and monitoring skills. Also, guided visits and workshops were designed to get members of nearby communities involved in the preservation of Cerro Sechín’s irreplaceable heritage.
Túcume is composed of 26 magnificent adobe pyramids built by the Lambayeque culture at the beginning of the tenth century before being conquered by the Chimú and the Inca. The site has the highest concentration of monumental architecture in northern region Peru. Huaca Larga, the site’s largest structure, is notable not only for its size but also for the ornate mural paintings that decorate its base.
Due to its fragility, WMF worked in partnership with the Patronato del Valle las Piramides de Lambayeque from 2006 to 2008 to conserve Huaca Larga. Work included the stabilization, conservation, and documentation of one of its platforms and the restoration of the wall paintings at the Temple of the Mythical Bird. In 2017, as a result of El Niño flooding, WMF took emergency action to save another of the site's pyramids, which was in danger of collapse.
Kuelap, one of the largest ancient monuments in the Americas, was a fortified citadel in northern Peru on the slopes of the Andes. The complex served as the political center of the Chachapoya civilization, a pre-Columbian culture that flourished from about 900 to 1400 CE. The Chachapoya civilization collapsed in the mid-sixteenth century as a result of the Spanish conquest, and Kuelap was abandoned. Over time, the extraordinary complex’s condition has deteriorated due to fires, rain, wind erosion, and lack of an effective drainage system.
The site was placed on the 2004 World Monuments Watch to call attention to its continuing deterioration and need for improved tourism planning. After its inclusion on the Watch, WMF and other organizations came together to support a variety of conservation work at the site, with particular attention to a cone-shaped structure known as El Tintero. After heavy rains in the spring of 2023 caused heavy damage to Kuelap’s fragile structures, WMF facilitated the donation of LiDAR scanning services through the Peruvian company qAIRa to gather essential data about the complex.
In 2023, qAIRa also donated a weather station to the site via WMF. In addition, with the help of the U.S. Embassy in Peru, WMF supported a survey to analyze deformations of the site’s structure led by Dr. Iván Ghezzi using satellite radar and a thermal drone. This led to new discoveries about the role of climate change and extreme weather events in hastening the fortress’s deterioration.
World Monuments Fund (WMF) is grateful to the Ministry of Culture of Peru, the Municipality of Casma, and the Instituto de Investigaciones Arqueológico (IDARQ) for their collaboration and support at the Chankillo Archaeoastronomical Complex. WMF's work at this site was also made possible, in part, by support from The Selz Foundation, the U.S. Department of State's Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP), the U.S. Embassy Lima, and Tianaderrah Foundation/Nellie and Robert Gipson, with additional support provided by Antamina-Asociación Ancash, the British Peruvian Cultural Institute, and OHL.
World Monuments Fund’s work at Museo de Arte de Lima - MALI has been made possible by the European Union in Peru.
World Monuments Fund’s work at Cerro Sechín has been made possible, in part, by the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP), the U.S. Embassy Lima, Tianaderrah Foundation/Nellie and Robert Gipson, and Nor Oil SAC.
World Monuments Fund's work at Túcume Archaeological Site was made possible, in part, by support from The Robert W. Wilson Charitable Trust.
World Monuments Fund’s work at Kuelap Fortress has been made possible, in part, by The Selz Foundation and the U.S. Embassy in Peru.