Lima was founded in 1535 by the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pissarro and was called Ciudad de los Reyes or the "city of kings". When building cities in the colonies, the Spaniards usually used a single rectangular layout with a central area - the Plaza de Armas. Buildings of this period are a mixture of Spanish and Native American styles, a combination of which is called the Creole style.
Inspection of the capital usually begins with the central square - Plaza de Armas, which means the Square of Arms, or the Stamp Square. In the center of the square is a fountain, built on the orders of Vice Governor Francisco de Toledo in 1578. Initially, it consisted of a balustrade and a bowl, it had 8 pipes through which water fell on the bowl to the next level. The fountain was rebuilt in 1651, and remains in the center of the square to this day. In the colonial era, the square served as a marketplace, an arena for bullfighting and a place for a gallows.
The square is decorated with facades of the Cathedral with the tomb of Francisco Pizarro and the Presidential Palace, in front of which a guard changing ceremony is held daily at noon. The construction of the Cathedral was completed in 1622, and two hundred years later it was here that the independence of Peru was proclaimed. The Presidential Palace or Casa de Pizarro was founded in 1535 to commemorate the creation of the city, but after numerous reconstructions, restorations and reconstructions in its present form, it appeared on the square in 1938. The ceremony of changing the guard is very popular with the audience, so it is better to come a little in advance. The traditional uniforms of the sentries have remained unchanged since the Revolutionary War, and the ceremony itself is accompanied by the sounds of marches and Creole waltzes performed by a military band.
It is during a visit to the Plaza of Arms, as well as the neighborhoods adjacent to it, that the colonial charm of Lima with its old mansions, palaces, churches and famous carved wooden balconies is fully felt.