Chan Chan is the largest city of mud brick built in the pre Colombian America, occupying an area of 7.7 square miles (almost 20 square kilometers).
It was the capital of the ancient Chimu Kingdom. Chan Chan is located 2 miles (5 kilometers) west from Trujillo, which is the capital of the Peruvian region of La Libertad in the north of the country. The original name of the city was “Jang Jang” that means “Sun Sun”; but Spaniards pronounced this name as Chan Chan. It believes that Chan Chan housed in its apogee around 100 000 people.
Chan Chan is a great city composed by nine walled citadels that contain ceremonial rooms, temples, residences, burial chambers and reservoirs. Each of the small cities has its own single entrance which leads down a corridor that opens up into other passageways lining walls and buildings featuring some marvelous rectangular architecture.
These citadels are known as Chayuac An, Xlangchic An, Fechec An, Utzh An, Fochic An, Ñing An, Nain An, Nik An and Chol An.
All structures in Chan Chan were built using adobe brick (a material made from sand, clay, water and straw). Most structures of Chan Chan have their walls decorated with diverse reliefs that represent birds, fish and small mammals using two artistic styles: realistic representation of the subjects and stylized representation of the subjects.
Most decorations of Chan Chan, represent marine elements such as fish, nets, marine birds and the sea, showing that fishing was one of the main activities of the Chimus, who felt a great respect for the sea.
There are many tall walls in Chan Chan, some of them reach 8 meters height. There is also a great stepped pyramid in the north of the city, which is one of the largest pre Colombian pyramids of Peru. The city contains a great number of structures that served as palaces, storerooms and administrative buildings with U shape that are known as audiencias.
The city had also several “sunken gardens” where Chimus cultivated the Totora, reed specie that was used by the ancient Peruvians to built small ships that used to fish in the Pacific Ocean. The most prominent building of Chan Chan is the Tschudi palace also known as Nik An, which is entirely dedicated to the ocean worship; since its walls have reliefs that represent fish, otters, pelicans and ocean currents.
Apparently, Tschudi was the center of government of Chimu. Chan Chan is the main historical attraction of Trujillo city and one of the best examples of the pre Inca culture of the northern coast of Peru.
Chan Chan was constructed by the Chimu civilization that lived on the northern Peru from 850 to 1470, when the kingdom was conquered by the Great Inca Empire. According to the legend the first king of Chan Chan was Tacaycamu (Naylamp), a mythical personage that would have reached the Peruvian coast with a fleet of rafts.
The Chimu Kingdom controlled a large territory that covered almost all northern coast of Peru and part of the current Ecuador.
The main activity of Chimus was the agriculture, therefore, all the northern coast of Peru, including the zones around Chan Chan, is full of remains of the irrigation works made by Chimus and their ancestor the Mochica, these amazing irrigation channels are an evidence of the engineering skills of the ancient Peruvians; some of them are used still today.
There are extensive storerooms in Chan Chan, which have a capacity of 2000 square meters. According the archeologists unlike Inca Storerooms, the storerooms of Chan Chan did not use to store amounts of staples; since, the available storage space is far smaller compare to the Inca storerooms.
The Chimu storerooms appear to have specialized in producing and trading small, but valuable, luxury goods possibly used as status symbols by distant lords; therefore several scientists believe that Chan Chan was also an important trade center.
During the colonial period, the city was sacked and destroyed by Spaniards, who believed that the walls and pyramids of Chan Chan hided valuable treasures of gold and silver. The scientific works in Chan Chan began in the XX century, when the city was studied by archeologists such as Julio Cesar Tello, Tschudi, Max Uhle and Bandelier.
Chan Chan was declared World Heritage by UNESCO in 1986. The mud used to build Chan Chan has been preserved by the dry desert climate. Nevertheless, today the city is menaced by the erosion caused by the rain that occurs during the EL Niño, a periodical climatologically phenomenon that produces frequent rainfalls in the northern coast of Peru. Besides, the pollution and the weather change are also damaging seriously the structures of Chan Chan.
The INC (Culture National Institute of Peru) is responsible by the preservation of Chan Chan. To prevent damage, the Peruvian government and UNESCO have dug trenches to divert flood waters and covering up ancient murals with tarpaulins stretched over scaffolds.
Currently the capital of the ancient Chimu Kingdom is one of the main archeological complexes of Peru and receives many local and foreign tourists; therefore, it is considered one of the marvels of the country.