Huaca Huallamarca

Huallamarca is a stepped adobe platform built by the Lima culture from around 200 AD, later used as a cemetery by successive groups into the Inca period, and it now stands in the middle of one of the wealthiest residential districts in the country with glass apartment blocks on all sides. It was excavated and heavily restored in the 1950s under Arturo Jiménez Borja, and that restoration is why the pyramid has clean geometric lines and a ramp that visitors can climb - it is more reconstruction than survival, which the site does acknowledge. A small museum holds material from the burials, including mummy bundles and textiles. From the top the view is of Lima's modern skyline, which is the reason the place gets photographed. It is one of around four hundred huacas within the city, most of them far less presented than this one.

What you actually see

• The pyramid - a stepped adobe platform of the Lima culture, heavily restored.
• The setting - apartment towers on every side of the site.
• The museum - burial material including mummy bundles and textiles.
• The 1950s restoration - reconstruction that gave the pyramid its present outline.

When to go

Year-round. Forty-five to ninety minutes. It is floodlit in the evening, which is the best time for photographs. Closed on Mondays.

Honest expectations

Much of what you see is 1950s reconstruction rather than original fabric. Small - under an hour. No shade on the platform. The site museum is modest compared with Lima's larger museums.

Nearby

San Isidro's business district is adjacent; Huaca Pucllana is in Miraflores nearby.