Manco Capac statue in La Victoria, Bronze statue in La Victoria, Peru
The Manco Capac statue in La Victoria is a bronze figure mounted on a tall stone pedestal, depicting the legendary founder of the Inca Empire in a standing pose with a staff in one hand. It stands at the center of Plaza Manco Capac, one of the main public squares of the district.
The monument was donated by the Japanese community in Peru in 1926, during the celebrations marking a century of Peruvian independence. It has stood ever since as a visible sign of the ties between that community and their adopted country.
The statue shows Manco Capac standing upright, holding a staff and pointing into the distance. Around the base of the pedestal, animal figures and carved reliefs depict scenes from the early Inca world that visitors can study up close.
Plaza Manco Capac sits in La Victoria and is easy to reach on foot, as several major streets of the district converge there. The square tends to be busy during the day, which makes it a good starting point for a walk through the neighborhood.
The Japanese community chose Manco Capac as the subject because they saw a parallel between the sun worship practiced by the Incas and their own traditions around the sun. This makes the statue one of the few monuments in Peru created by an immigrant community to honor a figure from the country's pre-Columbian past.
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