Jirón Callao is a major

street A street is a public thoroughfare in a city, town or village, typically lined with Building, buildings on one or both sides. Streets often include pavements (sidewalks), pedestrian crossings, and sometimes amenities like Street light, streetligh ...

in the

Damero de Pizarro The Cercado de Lima ('Walled Lima'), Damero de Pizarro ('Pizarro's Checkerboard'), or Lima Cuadrada ('Squared Lima') is an area of the Historic Centre of Lima, historic center of Lima (capital of Peru) located within the Walls of Lima, old wall ...

, located in the

historic centre of Lima The Historic Centre of Lima () is the historic city centre of the city of Lima, the capital of Peru. Located in the city's districts of Lima and Rímac, both in the Rímac Valley, it consists of two areas: the first is the Monumental Zone est ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. The street starts at its intersection with the Jirón Sancho de Rivera and continues until it reaches the Jirón de la Unión, next to the

Plaza de Armas ''Plaza de armas'' (pl. ; literally ''arms square'' or ''place-of-arms'') is a Spanish language, Spanish term commonly used to refer to town square, town squares in Latin America, Spain and the Philippines, as well as a name commonly given to th ...

History

The road that today constitutes the street was laid by

Francisco Pizarro Francisco Pizarro, Marquess of the Atabillos (; ; – 26 June 1541) was a Spanish ''conquistador'', best known for his expeditions that led to the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Born in Trujillo, Cáceres, Trujillo, Spain, to a poor fam ...

when he founded the city of Lima on January 18, 1535. Until the 16th century, this road only had six blocks, the last two being formed at the beginning of the 17th century. This street had the particularity of being the gateway of the

viceroys A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...

to the city. Thus, on the occasion of the entry of a new viceroy to the city, a welcoming ceremony was held in the last block of this road (current sixth block). Previously, the viceroy spent the night in the Monserrate Convent which was located two blocks further west (current eighth block) and the next day they entered the city. The first viceroy to receive this ceremony was

Martín Enríquez de Almanza Martín Enríquez de Almanza y Ulloa, (died ca. March 13, 1583) was the fourth viceroy of New Spain, who ruled in the name of Philip II from November 5, 1568 until October 3, 1580. Like many of the early viceroys of New Spain, Almanza was o ...

in 1581 and this custom lasted until 1801 when viceroy Gabriel de Avilés y del Fierro arrived, that is, 42 viceroys over 220 years were received on this street. In 1573 the ''Hospital del Espíritu Santo'' was built by Mr. Miguel de Acosta, which would be one of the first hospitals built in the city. In the 17th century, this same road would house the residence of Isabel Flores de Oliva, better known as

Saint Rose of Lima Rose of Lima, TOSD (born Isabel Flores de Oliva; 20 April 1586 24 August 1617) (, ), was a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic in Lima, Peru, Spanish Empire, who became known for both her life of severe penance and her care of the pover ...

. In 1862, when a new urban nomenclature was adopted, the road was named jirón Callao, after the Constitutional Province. Prior to this renaming, each block (''cuadra'') had a unique name: *Block 1: Mantas, for the large number of stores that sold blankets and other such items. *Block 2: Valladolid, after the confectionery and warehouse establishment of Pedro de Valladolid y Florin which existed in the 17th century. *Block 3: Mármol de bronce, after the marble pool that, with a bronze pipe, supplied water to the population. It is also home to Casa Barbieri, the former residence of the counts of Villar de Fuentes. *Block 4: Mórtua, a bastardisation of "Lórtua" (possibly also "Olaórtua"), taken from Lucía de Lórtua, who lived there in the 19th century. *Block 5: Espíritu Santo, after the hospital of the same name built in 1573. *Block 6: Arco, after the

triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road, and usually standing alone, unconnected to other buildings. In its simplest form, a triumphal ...

that welcomed the new viceroys into the city. *Block 7: La Milla, after Baltazar de Lamilla, who lived there. *Block 8: Monserrate, after the convent of the same name, built in the early 17th century, where the new viceroys slept before entering the city. On July 29, 2020, a fire at the street's ninth block affected 60 families, who were moved to the Plaza Montserrate. On October 16, 2023, another fire was reported at the street's intersection with the

Jirón Cailloma Jirón may refer to: People * Carlos Jirón (1955-2020), Nicaraguan politician. * Pedro Jirón (1939-2018), Nicaraguan footballer. Places Jirón is used as a word for ''street'' in Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country ...

References

Bibliography

* {{Lima streets

Callao Callao () is a Peruvian seaside city and Regions of Peru, region on the Pacific Ocean in the Lima metropolitan area. Callao is Peru's chief seaport and home to its main airport, Jorge Chávez International Airport. Callao municipality consists ...

Lima District Historic Centre of Lima

History

See also

References

Bibliography