In the heart of Miraflores, just a short distance from its busiest avenues, Huaca Pucllana stands as a monumental contrast to the surrounding urban landscape. Its large stepped pyramid, built of adobe and clay, served as a ceremonial centre and is also believed to have had an administrative function. It was constructed by the Lima culture and later occupied by the Wari, a civilization that developed along Peru’s central coast during the first centuries AD. This ritual centre was abandoned in the 15th century for reasons that remain unclear, and over time it was gradually covered by earth and vegetation until the 1960s, when the mound was turned into a motocross and BMX track, with most of the people who passed by every day unaware of its historical significance.

Excavations began in 1981, making it possible to preserve the archaeological site and revealing the true importance of Huaca Pucllana. Renowned ethnohistorian María Rostworowski, a leading authority on Peru’s pre-Columbian cultures, played a key role in restoring the site’s historical memory by recovering its original name, Huaca Pucllana or Pugliana (whose name translates from Quechua as “sacred place of play”), as well as its significance as a place of worship. Today we know that Huaca Pucllana, which now stands 25 metres high but reached 36 metres at the height of the Lima culture, was the site of human sacrifice, particularly of young women, as well as other ceremonial practices such as ritual feasts that included the consumption of the meat of animals such as sharks. To explore Huaca Pucllana with the specialists who know it best, visitors can tour the Huaca Pucllana Site Museum, inaugurated in 1984, which offers visits at sunset.

Elsewhere across Lima’s urban landscape, another essential stop is the Mateo Salado archaeological complex, located between the districts of Breña and Pueblo Libre. Covering more than 16 hectares, it comprises five truncated stepped pyramids, or huacas. It was built by the Ichma, one of the most important cultures of pre-Hispanic Lima, around AD 1100, and is believed to have served a ceremonial function. It was later reoccupied by the Incas, who routed the Qhapaq Ñan—the monumental Inca road network stretching for more than 30,000 kilometres from what is now Colombia to southern Chile and Argentina—through this site along its coastal section.

Its two principal structures are Pyramid A, considered the main temple and the focal point of the complex, rising 18 metres high and covering an area of 164 square metres, and Pyramid B, known as the Pyramid of the Birds, named after the friezes and painted depictions of birds discovered there. They are complemented by several smaller pyramids, some of which served as funerary structures. During the Inca period, these buildings were remodelled and adapted, and the complex is believed to have housed the residence of the valley’s curaca— the title given to local political leaders under Inca rule. These changes included the creation of a main plaza, where a throne, or ushnu, may once have stood. The complex was abandoned following the arrival of the Spanish colonisers and was later looted by huaqueros, or tomb robbers. Restoration work began in 2007 and continues to this day, allowing the complex to be adapted for visitors.

A short distance away, in the district of Pueblo Libre, is the Larco Museum. Celebrating its centenary this year, the museum was founded in 1926 by the archaeologist and researcher Rafael Larco Hoyle, from Trujillo, and today stands as one of the foremost institutions for understanding Peru’s pre-Columbian art. With an outstanding museological approach, it was a pioneer in opening its storage vaults—home to around 45,000 artefacts—to the public, making it one of the few museums in the world where visitors can explore not only the main galleries but also the collections behind the scenes. The setting itself is equally remarkable: an 18th-century viceregal mansion surrounded by beautiful gardens, where visitors can enjoy lunch or dinner at the museum’s restaurant, whose cuisine combines Peruvian flavours with international influences.

The journey reaches its climax in Lurín, south of the city, where Lima gives way to the coastal desert. Here lies the Pachacamac Archaeological Sanctuary, one of the great sacred sites of ancient Peru and the principal spiritual centre of the central coast for more than 1,200 years. Dedicated to the creator god of the universe, believed to govern the balance of the world and possess the power to foretell the future, this vast complex was occupied and developed by four different cultures. Construction began under the Lima culture between AD 200 and 600 and was continued by the Wari, who transformed it into a major pilgrimage centre until around AD 1100. From that time onward, the Ychma built new temples and used the site as an administrative centre, before it was inherited by the Incas from around 1470, when they erected some of its most impressive structures.

The complex covers 465 hectares and includes temples such as the Temple of the Sun and the Temple of the Moon, the most impressive and best preserved, rising to heights of up to 40 metres and displaying architectural details that reveal the distinctive Inca style. It also contains residential buildings, including the residence of Tauri Chumpi, where the curaca of Pachacamac lived with a small retinue when Hernando Pizarro arrived in 1533.