Basilica of La Merced

You're walking along Jirón de la Unión, the street linking Plaza San Martín with the Plaza Mayor, for generations Lima's most elegant promenade. Halfway along, this dark façade covered in carvings stops you in your tracks.

1Older than the city

The Mercedarian friars settled on this plot in 1534, a year before Pizarro officially founded Lima. The first church was made of wood; the present one is the second, built of adobe and brick and repaired again and again after earthquakes. The 1687 quake forced the tower to be lowered, and the 1746 one meant the portal had to be rebuilt.

2Stone from the sea

Look at the material. Lima is a city of adobe, brick and quincha, wattle and daub, with no quarries nearby. That's why this granite portal is so surprising, carved with Solomonic columns over three tiers. According to the church's history, the stone came from Panama and reached Callao as ballast in galleons that returned loaded with silver.

Inside, the faithful venerate the Virgin of Mercy, patron of Peru's Armed Forces since 1823. At her coronation on 24 September 1921 she received the title of “Grand Marshal”.

By the entrance stands a cross where Friar Pedro Urraca did penance. Born in Jadraque, Spain, this Mercedarian died in Lima in 1657, and people still kneel before the cross today to ask for favours.

3What to look for

• The Solomonic columns, which seem to twist around themselves.
• The Virgin of Mercy in the central niche of the portal.
• The colour of the stone, dark grey and unlike anything else on the street.