There are many societal and political debates around statues in public space, and rare are those which are withdrawn from their initial location to then be replaced. This is the case of the statue bearing the image of the Spanish conquistador, and creator of the city of Lima, Francisco Pizarro. Produced by Charles Rumsey and installed on the Plaza de Armas in Lima, Peru, in 1935, she was withdrawn in 2003 following waves of criticism, to be installed outside the city. She has been back there for a few days to commemorate the 490th anniversary of the Lima Foundation.
The statue of Francisco Pizarro was unveiled during a Plaza de Armas ceremony in the presence of the far right mayor of Lima, Rafael López Aliaga, and the regional president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso. The inauguration aimed to rehabilitate the controversial heritage of the Conquistador, the regional president of Madrid stressing “The beginning of a historical meeting that changed the world forever”as reported by the newspaper El País.
The ceremony was not unanimous: a small group of Peruvians demonstrated nearby to oppose the return of sculpture. “It is an offense to all the indigenous peoples of Peru, Latin America and the world”said one of the demonstrators, according to AFP. Yonhy Lescano, former Peruvian presidential candidate, said on X: “We admire Tupac Amaru, Micaela Bastidas (who led a rebellion against the Spanish in the 1700s) and other heroes. We have stopped being a colony for a long time ”.
While the Inca Empire of South America was ravaged by a civil war from 1529 to 1532, the Spaniards, under the direction of Francisco Pizarro (1478-1541), left to conquer the territory, taking advantage of the unstable situation to establish their power. In 1532, Pizarro captured the Emperor Inca Atahualpa, which he then executed the following year. After having looted Cusco, the capital of the Inca Empire, he founded Lima, the new capital of Peru, in 1535. Peru regained its independence in 1821.
The equestrian statue of Francisco Pizarro returned to the center of Lima, January 19, 2025.