Jon, I hope you know that when I make digs at the Peru program in comparison to the Nepal program, it’s all jokes. I’m so grateful for this opportunity and I’m truly having a great time, and I’m learning a lot! Of course, I can’t help but to compare the two, but the more I try, the more I find that it can’t be fairly done. The programs differ in their context and goals, and therefore in their content, structure, and overall dynamics.
Yesterday, at Plaza Mayor, you told us the area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I immediately asked about the age because I had become used to the UNESCO sites within the city of Kathmandu being thousands of years old. They survived to this day through constant reparation and restoration with traditional techniques passed down through families. Here, you can already see how the context differs significantly from Peru. I’m sure parts of Kathmandu were also planned — I’m sure it was also an idealized sign before it was reality — but I think the ideal there was rooted in the spiritual and religious tenets of Buddhism, rather than a colonial conception of order. I’m not going to get into it (yuh), but the context and impact of colonization in Nepal is vastly different from that of Peru.
Briefly visiting Madrid before coming here was an interesting experience. It’s unsettling to see the same structures and designs repeated, maybe not exactly, but close to exactly (and with bonus palm trees) in a place that’s a 12 hour flight away. The Spanish really got around. Everywhere, I am seeing the physical manifestation of the Spanish colonial idea of the perfect city. I wrote out a whole bit about my thoughts on the Plaza Mayor in Lima versus the one in Madrid, before I realized the one in Madrid only gained its present name around 1939. Madrid’s Plaza Mayor was not meant to be the centre of power the way Lima’s was.
I’m also thinking about how gigantic that church at the Plaza Mayor was. I think the imposing physical grandeur of the church is symbolic not only of how much literal governing power it had, but also the power the church held over ways of thought. I’m thinking about the contrast between the Catholic-influenced art I saw in the Prado in Madrid, with its countless depictions of virginity and purity, and the ancient erotic art we had the opportunity to see in the Larco. I was going somewhere with this, but I lost my train of thought.
I just had a thought as I was writing this. Would the Spanish have used the same building techniques and materials in Peru as in Spain? Does the soil hold buildings in the same way? Are the same materials accessible here? If not, how did the Spanish adapt their vision of the ideal city? Is this land better suited to support a different kind of city? If so, did the imposition of this specific city structure have a lasting impact on the land?
Wow, I’m doing some of the worst writing in my life in this seminar. My thoughts are so scattered and I can’t gather them together. Hoping for better blog posts ahead. Thanks for understanding.
2 replies on “Hey Jon, since you wanted a comparison so bad…”
I think art is such an interesting way to contrast different cultures or regions from one another. Art intrinsically holds value and meaning but can be depicted in an explicable amount of ways. So, with erotic art, even though the ones at the Museo Larco are completely different than the Catholic-influenced art depicting virginity/purity–they both symbolize values of sex. Even tracing back the Catholic/Christian influence is a trip in and of itself!
Loved your thoughts, I hope we make it to the same tier as Nepal for you.
Jasmine
Hi Cissy! I love hearing about your comparisons of Kathmandu and Peru 🙂 It is certainly interesting to see the similar architectural designs and structures in a country that I initially perceived as vastly different from the colonial country. When I sent a video of the Plaza Mayor to my friends in Europe, they said it looked exactly like Europe. That was until I showed them other parts of Lima. Thanks for your insight!