Peruvian colonial architecture

Cathedral of Lima with Renaissance central doorway and towers.

Baroque facade of the Torre Tagle Palace, with balconies in Mudéjar style.

Central Chapel, neoclassical and octagonal, Presbyter Matías Maestro Cemetery.

In the early days of the Viceroyalty was developed the Renaissance style, which had occurred in Europe following the stream of the Italian Renaissance. This style was characterized by the use of ornaments and watermarks that were giving away the architectural lines of the building's likeness chiseled work of silver, hence the name plateresque and where art blends Gothic, Romanesque and Arabic of the colonial period, from the 16th to mid-17th century. These are magnificent examples of this style in Lima facades of the Cathedral of Lima and the Casa de Pilatos. In Ayacucho the facades of the churches of San Francisco and La Merced.

The Baroque was distinguished and characterized by his heavy ornamentation, of predominantly curved lines, giving an aspect of free movement. Predominant decorative elements in columns, pilasters, cornices, and a modification of the classical forms, the Greek columns lose their purity to wring, as thick snakes, its trunks to form Solomonic column and ornaments acquired great exuberance.

A characteristic feature of this style is the rustication that appears on the walls of the Monastery of San Francisco, Lima. This style prevailed since the middle of the 17th to the late 18th century, subsequently giving rise to Churrigueresque and Rococo. There are representative examples of Baroque in Lima, the Torre Tagle Palace, the churches of San Francisco and San Marcelo. In Cuzco the Cathedral of Cuzco (Andean Baroque), the churches of Santo Domingo and San Sebastián. In Arequipa the Church of la Compañía.

During the late seventeenth and eighteenth century in the southern Andes (Southern Peru and Bolivia) a new style developed which blended European Baroque with indigenous (Inca, Aymara) features such as the kantuta flower and Inka maskaypacha crown as well as native flora and fauna (Arequipa papayas and the Chiguanco thrush). It was created by primarily by indigenous sculptors, sometimes inspired by textile patterns. The new style appeared primarily on the stone carved facades of churches and palaces, first in Arequipa and later in the Lake Titicaca region and further south to Oruro and even into Chile. It was one of the most vigorous combinations of styles in all of colonial Latin America. The most important buildings are the Church of la Compañía and Puno Cathedral.[2]

In the late 18th and early 19th century came the style called neoclassical, which was characterized by the dominance of a trend towards the return of the classic styles of Greco-Roman architecture (using Romanesque columns with Corinthian capitals and without ornamentation, straight lines and simplicity in them, in addition to triangular frontispiece).

It was as a reaction against the baroque. These are magnificent examples of this style the altar and the towers of the Cathedral of Lima, the facade of the Basilica and Convent of San Pedro, the main altar of the Basilica and Convent of San Francisco, pilasters of the Osambela House, the facade of Fort Santa Catalina and Presbyter Matías Maestro Cemetery.

• Architecture of Peru
• Balconies of Lima
• List of architectural styles

• Colonial Architecture Project by Gauvin Alexander Bailey

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