Chan-Chan Citadel

Built of mud and adobe, Chan Chan—the nine-square-mile former capital of the Chimú empire (850–1470)—was the most expansive city of its time. Wander along pathways with a guide to see wall reliefs that depict creatures from the nearby Pacific. You’ll learn where various community activities, including human sacrifices, took place.

Chan Chan is a huge UNESCO World Heritage site on the edge of the colonial city of Trujillo. The ruins of the ancient Chimu adobe city are really well preserved, with life-size sculpture, and friezes of birds, geometric shapes, sea otters and fish. A criss-cross fishing net motif decorates many walls of the site. Wandering through the maze of adobe walls reveals a lovely pool filled with reeds and lily pads. A large opening in the thick walls of the main plaza frames a view of the ocean. The friezes and sculpture are so sharp looking that I wonder if the motifs on the wall are recreated. Regardless, the visuals are stunning.

Chan Chan (which literally translates to “Sun Sun”) is the largest Pre-Columbian metropolis of South America. It was built by the Chimu civilization, a vast empire that once stretched more than 1000 kilometers from southern Ecuador all the way down the Peruvian coast. Around the very beginning of the 14h century, they built this 20 square kilometer citadel: then and still the biggest adobe city in the world. Impressive sculptures and wall carvings adorn the entire city. Chan Chan is very easy to reach from Trujillo, and it is well worth a visit. Combis to Chan Chan (1.50 PEN) leave Trujillo every few minutes, and a taxi from Trujillo runs 10 PEN.

Chan Chan is the world’s largest adobe city—and in the 1400s, was the largest city in the Americas, with countless temples, squares, dwellings, treasuries and storehouses. For all its grandeur, however, the site is as remarkable for its small details: the diamond shapes that punctuate so many of the walls, the abstract animal and human motifs that make up the friezes, and the exposed adobe brick peeking through its mud casing.

Chan Chan is an archaeological site located in the peruvian region of La Libertad, 5 km west of Trujillo city, it was build by the largest Pre-Columbian city in South America, The Chimu, around AD 850 and conquest by the Inca empire in AD 1470. The vast adobe city of Chan Chan covers an area of approximately 20 km² and had a urban center of about 6 km². It was added as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on November 28 of 1986. Closer to the area is a local museum that expose some artefacts and representation of the kind of life that chimus people had long time ago in the middle of the desert. TIP:bring a bottle of water and use solar protection, sunglasses and summer clothes xoxo