El Campo de Marte, Public park in Jesús María, Peru
El Campo de Marte is a large public park in Jesús María, Lima, divided east–west by Avenida de la Peruanidad, the paved route of the former Santa Beatriz Hippodrome. Its broad lawns are crossed by pale concrete walkways, with a circular junction at the center, and are planted with leafy trees and a few palms. The park holds an acoustical shell, the municipal stadium of Jesús María, and tennis and swimming federation facilities.
The site began as a hippodrome before becoming Lima's first airport in the 1920s. The land was later transformed into the public park that exists today.
The park's name comes from the Campus Martius, and it is also called Plaza de la Revolución. Its monuments mark national memory: the 1941 border defenders, the 1985 Evangelisation Mural with departmental shields in alphabetical order, and El Ojo que Llora, a stone labyrinth engraved with victims' names from 1980–2000. A bronze Peruvian hairless dog sits facing the border monument.
The Avenida de la Peruanidad cuts the park into east and west halves; the western side holds the Monument to the Defenders of the Border, the eastern side the Eye that Cries and the Pet Park. The stands left from the old Santa Beatriz racetrack serve as seating for the Great Military Parade on July 29. The park lies in Jesús María, near the ministries of Health, Labour and Defence.
The Monument to the Defenders of the Border took three presidencies to finish: begun under Manuel Prado y Ugarteche, continued under José Luis Bustamante y Rivero and Manuel A. Odría, it was inaugurated on 24 June 1966, during Prado's second term, coinciding with the silver jubilee of the Battle of Zarumilla.
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