Lima District
Lima (known in
Spanish as
Cercado de Lima) is a
district of the
Lima Province in
Peru. It is where the
downtown zone of
Lima, the country's capital city, is located.
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Coat of Arms |
This district is the oldest in Lima and as such, vestiges of the city's
colonial era remain today in the
Historic centre of Lima, which was declared a
UNESCO World Heritage Site in
1988.
Currently, the
mayor (
alcalde) of the Lima District is
Luis Castañeda Lossio and its
postal code is
1.
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Location in the Lima and Callao Metropolitan Area |
The district has a total land
area of 21.98 km². Its administrative center is located at 154 meters above
sea level.
Boundaries
* North: The
Rímac River marks the district's border with the
San Martín de Porres and
Rímac districts.
* East:
El Agustino* South:
La Victoria,
Lince,
Jesús María,
Breña and
Pueblo Libre.
* West:
San Miguel District; and the
Callao Region districts of
Bellavista,
Callao and
Carmen de la Legua Reynoso.
According to a
2002 estimate by the
INEI, the district has 345,898 inhabitants and a population density of 15,736.9 persons/km². In
1999, there were 75,595 households in the district.
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San Francisco de Asís Church |
Downtown (known as
Cercado proper) is limited by Avenida Alfonso Ugarte on the west and Jirón Huánuco (Huánuco Street) on the east. It is divided into West and East sides by Jirón de la Unión (Union Street), from which
cuadras (
blocks) are numbered beginning at 100 and changing the first numbers at the next block. Unlike
New York's Fifth Avenue, though,
Jirón de la Unión is not paved for cars, but almost entirely a shopping and
pedestrian street; the main thoroughfares for cars and
buses are Tacna Ave. on the West side and Abancay Ave. on the East. Both are separated from Jirón de la Unión by 4 blocks. The
Plaza de Armas (Grand Army Plaza), which is the main square, is located on block 2 of Jirón de la Unión, facing the Peruvian government palace and the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima (
City Hall).
East of downtown is the
Barrios Altos (Uptown) neighborhood. Here the oldest, though least stable, buildings in Downtown Lima are located. Two cemeteries, El Angel and Presbítero Maestro, form the eastern border with
El Agustino. Parts of the long-demolished colonial city walls can be seen here.
South of the West Side is
Santa Beatriz section, which contains residential buildings and the
Parque de la Reserva, Lima's modest answer to
Central Park. Santa Beatriz is locally famous for containing the buildings for the state TV network
TNP (Ch. 7), and the top two private
TV networks, America Television (Ch. 4) and Panamericana Television (Ch. 5). Its main thoroughfare is Arequipa Avenue, a narrow boulevard lined with trees of all sizes. Santa Beatriz is also home to the city (and country)'s main
soccer stadium, the
Estadio Nacional (
National Stadium).
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Map of the Lima district |
West of downtown is the
Industrial Area, an
industrial belt extending into neighboring Callao Region, and home to the main industries in both city and country. Most of the area is covered by large blocks containing large factories; at its northern and southern edges there are clusters of
residential areas, particularly in the southern zone bordering
San Miguel and Callao Region's
Bellavista District.
*
Municipalidad Metropolitana de Lima - Metropolitan Lima Municipal Council official website
