The corner of Lima that National Geographic included in the 50 most romantic destinations in the world
There is no love without a park, a Place of promises and love declarations. If any park knows better of these matters it is the one that the artist Víctor Delfín created in 1993, during times when one of the most beloved Mayors of Miraflores, the remembered Alberto Andrade lead the district. Since then, the Parque del Amor has been a symbol of love and a magnet for couples who come from all over the world to find the ideal location in front of the sea in the company of these two lovers united by an eternal kiss.
Inauguration
Parque del Amor was inaugurated on February 14, 1993. It is located on the Malecón Cisneros, next to the Villena bridge, in Miraflores. It is the work of the Peruvian artist Víctor Delfín, who designed the park and the sculpture “El beso” commissioned by the mayor of Miraflores Alberto Andrade.
The statue
“The Kiss”- El Beso, went from being a small bronze sculpture measuring 70 by 30 centimeters to a colossal replica of cement, clay, and red pigment measuring 8.02 meters wide by 7.31 meters high. Víctor Delfín was inspired by the couples he saw on the Costa Verde, he sketched them and then modeled them in clay. Finally, the work that he liked the most was recreated in bronze to be placed in his office. One day Alberto Andrade visited him in his house, The then mayor of Miraflores was struck by the piece and asked Delfín if he could do one just like it, but bigger. “if you give me a mountain, I’ll put the sculpture there the size you want,” the artist replied. A few days later, together with a delegation from the municipality, the mayor and the artist went to find the place to put the sculpture.
The Park
Delfín and Andrade walked along the cliffs and reached an area where there was a sculpture by the artist César Campos, which in Delfín’s words looked abandoned and in the middle of garbage. At that moment, they discovered a couple who got scared from the curious and tried to escape. “Don’t leave, here we are going to make a place for you to be respected so that no one messes with you,” the artist told them to the mayor’s surprise. They had found the place. , built the park in just 1 month
Names and poems
The design of the park resembles that of Park Güell in Barcelona, a famous work of the Catalan architect Antonio Gaudí. The environment is decorated with verses by Peruvian poets, including Pablo Guevara, Martín Adán, César Moro, and Emilio Adolfo Westphalen; but names of historical couples are also read. As an anecdote, Víctor Delfín recounts that the young people who helped to put the majolicas did their business with the couples that passed by and asked them to put their names “in exchange for a single” as part of the decoration.
Victor Delfin
The indefatigable artist from Piura is currently 92 years old. Absolute creator, the pandemic has encouraged him to write and this year he is preparing to publish a story.
A world-famous kiss
In 2017, National Geographic included Parque del Amor in its list of the 50 most romantic destinations in the world. The publication highlighted among its attractions the possibility of appreciating the sunset with a privileged view of the Pacific Ocean, as well as its emblematic sculpture. In addition, he recommended visiting him on February 14 to be part of the longest kiss contest, something that this year will be impossible to do.
Criticism against the park
An intellectual once said about the verses: “Mixing Pinglo (composer of criolla music) with Vallejo (one of the greatest poets of Peru), what a barbarity!” Many believe it was the end of Delfín, but there was a historian, José Antonio Del Busto, who said something very true: this work is the first mestizo park of Peru, and there for it was very shocking to many, but this is the true expression of who we are as a mixed blood nation.
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