Despite a soft summer rain I decided to visit the old park in front of Dos de Mayo Hospital, the first day of 2010.

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/5121/07huanuco3.jpg
By camiloplaza (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/camiloplaza)

For the exact location of the park in Google Maps click here (http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-12.056361,-77.016817&spn=0.008237,0.016179&z=17).

The area was planned to be a garden (Spanish: huerta) for the Dos de Mayo Hospital built between 1868 and 1875. Nevertheless, for many years it was a crime-ridden and filthy place: "... policemen were usually assaulted and it was told that the hospital's chaplain Don Lucas Castro was murdered there on March 24th, 1881."

On Sunday March 17, 1895 a battle took place in the park between the forces loyal to the government of General Andres A. Cáceres and an army under the command of Nicolás de Piérola. The battle began at 10 a.m. and ended by 5 p.m. with many deads and the hospital seriously damaged.

Piérola entering Lima by Cocharcas
http://cl.kalipedia.com/kalipediamedia/historia/media/200806/10/hisperu/20080610klphishpe_29_Ies_LCO.jpg
By Kalipedia (http://cl.kalipedia.com/fotos/pierola-entrando-lima-portada.html?x=20080610klphishpe_29.Ies)

By 1904 the area was a park with a central walkway
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6945/2307/1600/LM-%20Hospital%202%20Mayo%20BP.jpg
By Eduardo Dargent Chamot (http://peruvistas.blogspot.com/)

Even today the area is dangerous because of street robberies. A tall iron fence prevents anyone to enter the park.
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http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/846/01puno1.jpg
By camiloplaza (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/camiloplaza)
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http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/9509/02puno2.jpg
By camiloplaza (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/camiloplaza)
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http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/6126/03huanuco1.jpg
By camiloplaza (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/camiloplaza)
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http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/2765/04huanuco2.jpg
By camiloplaza (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/camiloplaza)
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In the middle there is a monument to honour Daniel Alcides Carrión, a medical martyr who injected himself with the germ of the bartonellosis, to study the disease.

Dos de Mayo Hospital was built, among many other buildings, thanks to the bonanza from the export of guano (bird excrement used as fertilizer) around the middle of 19th century.

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/7223/06frontis2.jpg
By camiloplaza (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/camiloplaza)

The buildings of the Guano period meant the rebirth of Lima after many years of decadence that follows the end of the Spanish rule in 1824. Buildings so different from the ones of the spanish period, mainly churches, convents and similar, many of them adapted empirically as hospitals and schools.

http://limaurbana.wordpress.com/files/2008/07/dsc00401.jpg?w=840
By Lima Urbana (http://limaurbana.wordpress.com/2008/07/24/hospital-nacional-dos-de-mayo/)

cf. Planning Latin America's capital cities, 1850-1950; edited by Arturo Almandoz. pp. 174 - 176.

These two pictures show the entrance gallery with the white statue of Virgin Mary in the center place.

For more pictures of Dos de Mayo Hospital, visit LosBarriosAltos blog (http://barriosaltos2007.blogspot.com/2009/04/hospital-dos-de-mayo-en-los-barrios.html).

Spanish version of this post, here (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=49356863)

Versión en castellano de este artículo, aquí (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=49356863).