Statue of Spanish conqueror Pizarro returns to Peru amid controversy
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Bronze statue put in back in Lima 22 years after removal in apparent attempt to rehabilitate Francisco Pizzaro’s legacy. An imposing bronze statue of Francisco Pizarro, Peru’s Spanish conqueror, has been returned to a spot near its former location in Lima’s main square, 22 years after it was removed, in an apparent attempt to rehabilitate the conquistador’s controversial legacy.
Weighing 7 tonnes and standing 5 metres tall, the Italian Renaissance-inspired sculpture of Pizarro astride a horse with his sword drawn was re-inaugurated on Saturday as part of celebrations marking the 490th anniversary of the Peruvian capital city’s foundation.
The main square was closed off to the public and guarded by police as the statue covered in a white cloth was unveiled by Lima’s far-right mayor Rafael López Aliaga and the regional president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso. The Spanish politician from the conservative People’s party (PP) had been invited to the Peruvian capital to mark the city’s anniversary.
The symbolic vindication of Pizarro, the conquistador who led 167 Spaniards to defeat the Inca Empire, has provoked mixed reactions in a country still deeply divided along racial and class lines. Pizarro notoriously captured the Inca emperor Atahualpa in 1532 and held him to ransom until the room in which he was held was filled with gold and silver. He then had him executed the following year.
