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The General Cemetery of Lima was built in 1807 outside the walls of the city, east of Lima and on the farm of Santa Ana. The door number 4, which leads to the ancient pantheon, is in the 17 block of Jiron Ancash in Barrios Altos. This old street was laid by the conquistador Francisco Pizarro when he founded the city on January 18^th, 1535, it has his point of origin in the Jiron de la Union in full intersection with the Stone Bridge. Along its route are also Station Homeless, the rear door of the Government Palace, the House of the 13 doors, the Convent and Basilica of St. Francisco, School of Fine Arts of Lima, the Church of the Trinity the convent of St. Camilo, the Church of Santa Clara, the Institute of Neuropathology, and the Cemetery “El Ángel”. Now finishes its route on Avenida Riva Agüero, but be demolished before the Wall of Lima ended on the Cover of Wonderland.

The cemetery was a representation of the city in miniature. The streets and Cuartes reproduced the organization of Lima and also showed the social status of its inhabitants, then, the goal of the new rich was not just shine in life but pass into posterity through the beauty of the sculptures. Materials such as marble, iron, bronze, stone and brocade were used to make this cemetery where the remains of heroes, presidents, thinkers and poets. The wall is brick and lime. The mezzanine floor of cement and sand. The fence is iron and finish of the exterior is of lime and sand. To access the cemetery was also revamped the Cover of Wonderland, old name of the street that led to the church of Saint Christ, located in the Plaza las Maravillas in Barrios Altos.

The general Jose de St. Martin was who on October 25, 1821, imposed the prohibition of the burials were in the churches, and it is from that date that our Cemetery enters new stage of development.

Years later, in 1847, in the government of Mariscal Ramón Castillathe construction of mausoleums were authorized; thus entering monumental art to the cemetery.

 In December 1906, the government of Mr. Jose Pardo and Barreda established the amount of eight thousand pounds of the general budget of the Republic erected on the cemetery "a funeral chapel" to deposit in it the rest of the defenders of the Nation in the war of 1879. Also,  in August 22^nd, 1908 it was determined that those who distinguished themselves in this fight and whose remains had not been found, would be listed by name in wall plates inside the crypt, including those who already rested in mausoleums own. The Crypt of Heroes was inaugurated on September 8^th, 1908.

Now the Public Charities of Lima offers nightly guided tours twice a month. These have been called "Full Moon Night", consisting of a tour where the history of the famous people who are buried are narrated there. 

María Sánchez