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Lima has many more sunny days than its inhabitants claim. The urban
layout of its historic centre – the famous checkerboard – is
the most perfect Cartesian grid in South America, yet the suburbs
are the global capital of informality. Lima society lives in a
permanent state of commercial frenzy, yet it has preserved the
oldest traditions in the continent. The best-known works of
architecture are viceregal and republican, yet pre-Columbian ruins
are scattered around the city in a manner that can only be found
elsewhere in Cairo. Its modern movement is more cheerful than that
of the old continent, midway between Brazil and California. And the
invasions, a heterodox and radical phenomenon, have generated an
astonishing form of urban development. The book describes more than
160 works, organised in routes that range from the territorial to
the neighbourhood scale and are designed to explore the city by
boat, car, train, bus, bicycle or on foot. It covers the
predominant styles of architecture in each period as well as the
remains of the pre-existing landscape and the infrastructures that
articulate the city today. Interspersed in the texts are references
to the civilising mechanisms that have underpinned the construction
of the works, the economic activities that have made them possible,
and their public administration. Until now, Lima has shown the
world a gloomy, unattractive ambience. Herman Melville described it
as 'the strangest, saddest city thou can'st see', César Moro as
'Lima la horrible', and Héctor Velarde as 'Lima la gris'. This
guide offers a different picture, one of a vibrant, cheerful and
insanely glorious city, with bright colour photographs inviting
visitors and residents to see it in a new light.
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