Local Boy Conquers Empire

Pizarro, the conquistador of Peru, was from a medieval town called Trujillo, in southwest Spain.

You can never forget your first glimpse of that city, which stands on a little mountain in Extremadura, crowned with a castle. Nor will you easily forget the main square with the strange towers and rich palaces built by Pizarro’s relatives. Conquistadores too, and governors of New World provinces, they became rich with American gold and built sumptuous buildings back in their hometown.

In that pretty square, loud with the calls of hundreds of swallows as they circle in happy sweeps on a summer morning, there is a magnificent equestrian statue of Pizarro, the work of an American sculptor, Charles Rumsey. Pizarro stands in his stirrups with the unbelievable boldness and defiance that characterized his deeds in America. No man was ever tougher or braver. Yet he gets low points in humanity from many historians who deeply lament his exploits and consider them perverse. A copy of this statue which the sculptor’s wife donated to the city of Lima in 1926 has not been well received.

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