The stone bridge or Montesclaros, symbol of Lima

Today, January 18, Lima commemorates 488 years of existence since the day it was founded by the brave conqueror Francisco Pizarro. Raúl Porras Barrenechea, one of the most brilliant intellectuals of the 20th century, wrote: “What lacks history is barbarism, and culture is not, after all, but the memory of past generations and the nobler the more old woman”. That is why it is important not to forget tangible symbols of our capital, which have transcended over time and are silent witnesses of our viceregal and republican vicissitudes.

The Jesuit Bernabé Cobo (1580–1657) was the author of the highly documented chronicle “History of the Foundation of Lima”. One of the sections of the book is titled “The river, the bridge and the boulevard”. The river, obviously, is the Rímac, so necessary in past times and currently so polluted. The bridge is the one ordered to be built by Viceroy Juan de Mendoza y Luna, Marquis of Montesclaros, very similar to the existing one in Toledo, which was inaugurated in 1610. The boulevard is that of the Descalzos, which was drawn up in the image and likeness of the Alameda de Hércules in Seville. In this way, Cobo, early on, pointed out the main symbols of our capital.

The bridge communicated with the Cercado, with the neighborhood of San Lázaro and what was commonly called and called “Abajo el Puente”. Farmers from the Andes with their families and also Afro-descendants lived there since the 16th century. In 1917, the great writer Ismael Portal said in El Comercio: “There is no reason for the ‘lower Pontinos’ to stop being as Lima as those above and carry your forehead as high as they. In his neighborhood there was nobility, wealth, piety, charity, patriotic love, determination for work, lawful popular joys and everything determined by the most well-arranged and outstanding public and social culture.

Returning to the Montesclaros bridge, we will say that it was built entirely of hewn stone. In 1838 it had important improvements. Its paving was arranged to form wide paths with slate slabs and it was placed on the edge of these chains supported by iron cannons to prevent mules or other animals from entering the paths.

The French sailor Max Radiguet (1816–1899), author of Lima and the Peruvian Society, who Estuardo Núñez said was one of the Gallic travelers who best described the social and political reality of Peru in the middle of the 19th century, has pages really anthological about the bridge: “At six in the evening, after the shops have closed, the movement of the city changes its appearance; Knights and carriages head towards the boulevards of the San Lázaro neighborhood, located on the right bank of the Rímac, while pedestrians ascend, to see them pass, the sidewalks of the Montesclaros bridge. One enters from the city side through a kind of triumphal arch crowned by a triangular attic, next to which rise two small turrets adorned with stucco moldings and reliefs. The bridge, with five arches, is built of stone; its pillars are defended, upriver, by masonry points that break the current of the river; Following the sinuosities of these breakwaters, the parapet forms spaces surrounded by benches for walkers. It is difficult to find a vacant place on these benches, or a support against the parapet, since foreigners, shopkeepers and their dependents come here to forget about the practice of business and sit down with a cigar in their mouths. This is also where the news is forged and all the scandalous gossip is discussed. This meeting point is perfectly chosen: one breathes there, during the strong heat, an air refreshed by the waters of the Rímac, which growls in a torrent over its bed of stone, especially in the thaw season in the mountains. A landscape full of variety that distracts and enlivens the view”.

From other sources we know that in the 1860s and 1870s, even before the war with Chile, it was the place where Lima women used to wear Parisian fashions, since they had abandoned the skirt and cloak by then. Crinolines had arrived from Paris and what Paris ordered was done in Lima. In 1877, rails were laid for the animal-drawn tram to circulate over the bridge and, later, the electric one. In 1902 the bridge underwent changes that last to the present. The traffic of vehicles and pedestrians had increased a lot. The Lima municipality widened it on both sides. For this, the eastern wall or parapet was demolished, which was replaced by an iron balustrade, which allowed the sidewalk to be 2.30 meters wide. Railings were put up and the cobblestones were replaced with compressed asphalt. Large posts in the shape of candelabras were also placed on both sides of the bridge, which first gave gas light and, later, electricity. Afterwards, unfortunately, everything has been a decline for this symbol of Lima. We think that Prolima, which has been doing plausible work, should value our old and historic bridge.