Centennial of the Independence of Peru

Centennial of the Independence of Peru
President Augusto B. Leguía amid celebrations in Lima
Date(s)July 28, 1921 and December 9, 1924
Location(s)Peru
Next eventSesquicentennial (1971)
Bicentennial (2021)
Activity100th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence
Organised byNational Centennial Commission

The Centennial of the Independence of Peru took place on July 28, 1921, as well as in December 9, 1924.[1][2] To commemorate the hundred years of the country's independence from Spain, large and lavish parties supervised by President Augusto B. Leguía were held.[3][4]

Celebrations

The city of Lima was decorated for the occasion with electric lights that decorated, among other important buildings, the National Congress, the Government Palace, the Plaza Mayor and the German Tower at the University Park, a gift from the German residents in Lima. Some porticos were also adorned with the coats of arms of the nations with which the emancipation was shared: Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia and Panama, and which were placed on the avenues most visited by residents and tourists who came for the event.[5]

There were sumptuous parties at the Government Palace, in the clubs, gala horse races, popular festivals, the great military parade, school parades, float parades and a series of inaugurations.[6] One of the most emotional events was undoubtedly the inauguration of the monument to General José de San Martín, in the plaza that has been named after him ever since.

The Municipality of Lima presented the monument of Admiral Bergasse du Petit Thouars, which is in front of the National Radio headquarters and Washington Square. The Peruvian capital was visited by numerous delegations from other countries, motivated by the good international relations that the government of President Leguía had weaved. Subsequently, a book was published in which an account of foreign visits is made, noting not only the number of members of the delegations but also the quality of the characters who came to visit the country.[5]

Foreign delegations

Saludo al presidente by Daniel Hernández – an oil painting depicting the reception of foreign missions inside the Government Palace by President Augusto Leguía.

Twenty-nine foreign delegations from countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia arrived. Venezuela (whose government mistakenly believed that the Liberator Simón Bolívar had been marginalized from the tributes) and Chile (which was not invited because it had a territorial conflict with Peru) were not represented.[5]

Among the foreign ambassadors and extraordinary envoys were:[7]

Country Name Portrait Head of state
Argentina Luis Duprat Hipólito Yrigoyen
Belgium Paul de Groot Albert I of Belgium
Bolivia Abel Iturralde Bautista Saavedra
Brazil Silvino Gurgel do Amaral Epitácio Pessoa
China Shin Yi Din Xu Shichang
Colombia Antonio Gómez Restrepo [es] Marco Fidel Suárez
Costa Rica Gregorio Martín Julio Acosta García
Cuba Nicolás de Cárdenas y Chappotín Alfredo Zayas y Alfonso
Denmark Otto Wadsted Christian X of Denmark
Dominican Republic Benjamín Valega Thomas Snowden
El Salvador Gregorio Martín Jorge Meléndez
France Charles Mangin Alexandre Millerand
Germany Hans Paul von Humboldt-Dachroeden Friedrich Ebert
Guatemala Paulo Emilio Guedes Carlos Herrera
Haiti Victor Kieffer Marchand Philippe Sudré Dartiguenave
Holy See Carlo Pietropaoli and Lelio Nicolo Orsini Pope Benedict XV
Honduras Gregorio Martín Rafael López Gutiérrez
Italy Guglielmo Mengarini Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
Japan Gonshiro Nishi Emperor Taishō
Mexico Antonio Caso Andrade Álvaro Obregón
Netherlands Wilhelm d'Artillac Grill Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
Nicaragua Leoncio I. de Mora Diego Manuel Chamorro
Norway Harvard Huitfeldt Bachke Haakon VII of Norway
Panama Eduardo Chiari Belisario Porras Barahona
Portugal José María Pereira António José de Almeida
Spain Cipriano Muñoz, 2nd Count of la Viñaza Alfonso XIII
Sweden Carlos F. Hultgren Gustaf V
United Kingdom Douglas Cochrane George V
United States Albert Douglas Warren G. Harding
Uruguay José Espalter Baltasar Brum

Foreign gifts

Some foreign residents in Lima, with or without the help of their natural governments, made the decision to gift monuments to the city, at the time characterized for its progressive and French-style character. The offerings of these monuments were made in 1921, but not all the gifts were ready that year: some began to be built on that date, but as their execution took time, they were delivered progressively until 1926, in a series of ceremonies. The original idea had been that these gifts would be delivered between 1921 and 1924, that is, between the centenary of the proclamation of the Independence of Peru by the Liberator José de San Martín, which took place on July 28, 1921, and of the Battle of Ayacucho, celebrated on December 9, 1924, which sealed the independence from Spain. The resident colonies in Peru that offered gifts were German, French, Belgian, American, Chinese, Japanese, English, Italian and Spanish.[8] There were also countries that gave gifts. Such was the case of Argentina, which after the ceremony on July 28, 1921, left the Tucuman horses, their harness and the spears. with which the soldiers that the homeland of San Martín had sent to remember the liberating feat, paraded.[5][9][10]

Country / Colony Name Author Inauguration date Location Image
 Belgium El estibador Constantin Meunier 1926 Belgium Plaza, Leguía Avenue
 Brazil Palm trees Leguía Avenue
 China Fuente China Ettore Graziosi and Valmore Gemignani
Gaetano Moretti [it] (architect)
Park of the Exhibition
Ecuador Monumento en homenaje a la memoria del Mariscal Antonio José de Sucre David Lozano c. 1924 Parque de la Reserva
 France Estatua de La Libertad René Bertrand-Boutée 1926 Placita de la Recoleta
 Germany Torre Alemana Friedrich Jordan Barkholtz July 10, 1923 University Park
 Italy Museum of Italian Art Gaetano Moretti November 11, 1923 Neptune Park
 Japan Monumento a Manco Cápac David Lozano April 5, 1926 Manco Cápac Plaza
 Spain Arco Morisco July 17, 1924 Parque de la Amistad
 United Kingdom Estadio Nacional July 29, 1923 Santa Beatriz, Lima
 United States George Washington statue Jean-Antoine Houdon July 4, 1922 Washington Park, Leguía Avenue
Fuente de los Atlantes Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney August 6, 1924 Leguía Avenue

See also

References

  1. ^ Páucar, Carlos (26 May 2019). ""No creo que se hagan tantas obras como en el Centenario"". La República.
  2. ^ Mendoza, Raúl (19 February 2012). "Leguía y la fiesta del centenario". La República. Archived from the original on 22 June 2017.
  3. ^ Basadre, Jorge (1998). Historia de la República del Perú (1822–1933) (in Spanish) (8th ed.). La República / Universidad Ricardo Palma. p. 2900.
  4. ^ Contreras, Carlos; Cueto, Marcos (2016). Historia del Perú republicano (in Spanish). Vol. Tomo 6: Oncenio de Leguía. Lima: Editorial Septiembre. p. 15. ISBN 978-612-308-174-4.
  5. ^ a b c d Casalino Sen, Carlota (2017). Centenario: las celebraciones de la Independencia 1921–1924 (PDF) (in Spanish). Municipalidad Metropolitana de Lima. pp. 58–59. ISBN 9789972726156. OCLC 1126541508. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 November 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  6. ^ Ricketts, Mónica (1998). "25.- Las fiestas del centenario". Guías Expreso: Lima, paseos por la ciudad y su historia (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Lima: Editora Nacional S.A. pp. 334–343.
  7. ^ Leguía Olivera, Enriqueta; Valverde, Benjamín (2008). Celebración del centenario de la independencia 1821–1921 : edición facsimilar (PDF) (in Spanish) (2nd ed.). Fundación Augusto B. Leguía. ISBN 9789972349157. OCLC 272566929.
  8. ^ Diez, Jonathan (18 April 2018). "LIMA: MONUMENTOS Y ESCULTURAS". .edu.
  9. ^ Hamann Mazuré, Johanna (2011). Monumentos públicos y espacios urbanos de Lima 1919–1930 (in Spanish). Universitat de Barcelona. ISBN 9788469417676. OCLC 804953893.
  10. ^ Pulgar Vidal, Jaime (2018). De golpes y goles: Los políticos y la selección peruana de fútbol (1911-1939) (in Spanish). Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas. ISBN 9786123181420.

Peruvian culture