Chan Chan: The colossal mud metropolis of the Chimú culture

Essential information

Name: Chan Chan (means “Radiant Sun” or “Sun-Sun” in the Chimú language)
Location: Moche Valley, northwest of Trujillo, La Libertad region, Peru
Area: 20 square kilometers
Altitude: Sea level (Peruvian coast)
Distance from Trujillo: 5 kilometers northwest of the city center
Distance from Lima: Approximately 500 kilometers north

History of an extraordinary civilization

The origins of the Chimú empire

Chan Chan emerged as the capital of the powerful Chimor Kingdom around 900 AD, built by the Chimú culture after inheriting the knowledge of their predecessors, the Moche. This civilization dominated the northern Peruvian coast for over five centuries, expanding from Tumbes to Carabayllo (near Lima), controlling a territory larger than any previous pre-Columbian kingdom.

Golden age

The city reached its peak in the 15th century, just before being annexed by the Inca Empire. During its golden age, it is estimated to have been inhabited by 20,000 to 30,000 people in its early stage, and by the 15th century, the population grew to between 70,000 and 100,000 inhabitants.

The Chimú dynasty

Tacaynamo was the first sovereign of Chan Chan. There were ten kings in this dynasty. The last, Minchancaman, was defeated by the Incas when in 1470, Inca Túpac Yupanqui arrived with his troops and besieged the site, destroying the tunnels that supplied water to the entire city.

Decline and legacy

After the Inca conquest, the population drastically decreased. Finally, around 1500, the Chimú rebelled, and Huayna Cápac looted and partially burned it. During the Spanish colonial period, Chan Chan was subjected to multiple looting and destruction, as there was a belief that a great treasure of gold and silver pieces was hidden within its walls and pyramids.

The world architectural record

The largest adobe city

Chan Chan is considered the largest mud city on the planet and the largest adobe-built city in America and the world. This site occupies no less than 20 square kilometers, constituting an exceptional testimony to pre-Columbian urban planning.

Complex urban structure

Chan Chan was composed of a total of ten citadels, which included over 100,000 workshops, pyramid temples, streets, and walls. Chan Chan consists of ten walled enclosures known as “citadels” and several solitary pyramids.

Innovative architecture and engineering

Advanced construction techniques

The citadels were built using adobe walls on stone foundations bonded with mud, wider at the base and narrower at the top. This trapezoidal technique provided seismic stability in a region of intense tectonic activity.

Materials and construction methods

The Chimú masterfully used local resources:

• Adobe: Broken adobe was used to construct floors, wall fill, ramps, and platforms, along with earth, stones, and other debris.
• Wood: It was used to make posts, columns, and lintels.
• Plant fibers: Reeds and mats were also used. Roofs were made by interweaving bundles of straw.
• Wild cane: Gadua cane or wild cane, brought from the Guayas basin (Guayaquil, Ecuador), was used along the banks of the Moche River.

Monumental walls

The Tschudi complex had a single entrance and high walls up to twelve meters for better defense, wider at their bases (five meters) than at their summits (one meter).

Social stratification reflected in architecture

Hierarchical architecture

The Chimú social organization was clearly expressed in urban architecture:

Monumental Architecture: Referring to rectangular enclosures or citadels that were residences of the upper class, as well as to the huacas or temples.

Intermediate Architecture: Corresponds to adobe constructions where members of the lower nobility and local curacas lived.

Popular Architecture: This is the simplest, associated with constructions of cane and mud used by artisans.

The palatial citadels

The large rectangular palace complexes (citadels) served multiple functions, such as royal residence, storage place, mausoleum, and administrative center. It is possible that the Chimú royal inheritance system meant that each new king inherited the title but not the wealth of his predecessor. Thus, each new king had to build a new one.

Decorative art and symbolism

Masterful reliefs

It possesses great beauty and variety in the number of walls decorated with high reliefs. These were made with molds and decorate the walls of the patios, audience halls, and corridors inside the citadels.

Marine iconography

The walled complex Nik An constitutes the greatest illustration of the importance of water, particularly the sea, and the worship it received in Chimú culture. The high reliefs represent fish, directed north and south, waves, rhombuses (fishing nets), as well as pelicans and small hooks.

Decorative motifs

The most common decorative motifs were geometric combinations, but representations of fish and birds are also common. All of them are delicately decorated with high reliefs depicting everyday life in Chimú culture, especially related to nature: waves, birds, fish.

Spatial and functional organization

Urban distribution

The areas are enclosed in a rectangular shape. They are oriented north/south. They are divided into three sectors:

North Sector: Plaza or courtyard with benches
Central Sector: Product warehouses and ten walled enclosures and other solitary pyramids
South Sector: Area for residence, kitchen, and bedrooms

Water management systems

The extensive and planned hierarchical remains of this city, including the remnants of the industrial, agricultural, and water management systems that sustained it, demonstrate Chimú technological sophistication.

Recognitions and world heritage

UNESCO declarations

In 1988, it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and included, in the same year, in the List of World Heritage in Danger. It constitutes an exceptional testimony to urban planning in pre-Columbian America and represents the pinnacle of urban development in the Andean area.

Outstanding universal value

The Outstanding Universal Value of Chan Chan lies in the extensive and planned hierarchical remains of this city, including the remnants of the industrial, agricultural, and water management systems that sustained it.

Practical information for visitors

Location and access

Chan Chan is strategically located between Trujillo and Huanchaco. From Trujillo, there are regular local buses that go to Huanchaco. A bus ticket will cost you around 1.5 soles. If you prefer to take a taxi from Trujillo, it will be 10-15 soles.

Hours and fees

It is open from 9 AM to 4 PM every day of the year, including holidays. Entry to the complex costs 10 soles, and a guide will cost you an additional 60 soles.

Visitable sectors

The first palace, the Tschudi Palace, is the most restored and is the only one that visitors can enter.

Conservation challenges

Environmental threats

Its location facing the sea brings salts and humidity that affect the mud walls, and the intense cyclical rains from the El Niño phenomenon weaken its structures.

Human pressures

In addition to issues like land tenure and illegal agricultural practices, the ruins are threatened by the constant looting of archaeological remains and by the proposal to build a road that crosses the site.

Recent archaeological discoveries

Contemporary findings

In October 2018, experts working at this large complex found the most recent discovery: 19 wooden idols with a ceramic mask, believed to have served to protect a specific area.

Ritual sacrifices

In 2018, just a few kilometers from Chan Chan, a group of archaeologists discovered 140 skeletons of children and 200 of llama offspring, believed to be the largest known child sacrifice in history.

Extraordinary facts

• Territorial extension: The Chimú empire ruled from Tumbes to Carabayllo between the 9th and 15th centuries.
• Kingdom population: The total population of the Chimú kingdom was 500,000 people.
• Prolonged construction: It was built over approximately 650 years.
• Artisanal specialization: The Chimú were great masters of textile, pottery, metallurgy, and goldsmithing.

Cultural legacy and significance

Influence on later cultures

The Chimú architecture, its tendency toward regional governance, and its art would influence their more famous successors, the Incas. The technical and organizational knowledge of Chan Chan was incorporated into the Inca administrative system.