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A statue of Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro has been re-installed in the center of Peru’s capital Lima more than 20 years after it was dismantled.
The opening of the sculpture took place during the ceremony on the occasion of the 490th anniversary of the founding of the city.
Pizarro founded Lima in 1535 after defeating the Inca Empire and claiming their lands for the Spanish crown.
Indigenous leaders say he was a mass murderer who destroyed their culture, while those who supported the statue’s return said Peru should not erase its history.
The monument, which shows Pizarro on horseback with a drawn sword, was created by the American sculptor Charles Rumsey and offered by his widow in honor of the city’s fourth centenary in 1935.
In 2003 it was moved to a park next to the railway tracks outside the city center after calls for its removal.
Luis Bogdanovic, who was in charge of the restoration of the historic center, told local media that the statue was damaged by the constant passing of trains, causing it to crack.
The bronze statue was unveiled Saturday alongside Mr. Bogdanovic and several of Pizarro’s descendants in Lima’s main square, the Plaza de Armas.
Díaz Ayusa said the ceremony commemorates “not only the birth of a city, but also the beginning of a historic meeting that changed the world forever,” according to Spanish daily El Pais.
Dozens of Peruvians held a demonstration nearby, opposing his return, AFP reports.
“This is an insult, an insult to all the indigenous peoples of Peru, Latin America and the world,” one person said.
