By: Iván Reyna Ramos 

After the United States Independence and the French Revolution, Agustín de Landázuri decided to leave the Viceroyalty of Peru to fight for the Independence from the Spanish colonies in America. Before leaving to Europe on December 20, 1799, he made his will leaving all his belongings to three persons: to his uncle Juan José Belzunce, to his best friend Hipólito Unanue and to Matías Larreta. According to the XVth clause of the will, the first person was the principal heir; however if the first heir died before the testator, the second and the third ones would inherit half of his possessions. Given that Juan José Belzunce and Matias Larreta died before Agustín de Landázuri, Hipólito Unanue received half of the assets.

The other half was sold in public auction in order to pay debts and obligations that had been contracted. The only bidder at the auction was Juan Salvedar, who announced that he would buy all the goods on behalf of Hipólito Unanue. Finally, all the assets remained in the hands of the wise man.

In 1801, Hipólito Unanue started to manage personally the assets inherited from his very close friend Agustín, and in 1817 he took possession of the Isque de Gómez, Pepián and Cerro Blanco estates, acquired at auction.

In 1826, the distinguished Doctor and National Independence Hero moved to Cañete. Years later, he decided to leave the valley due to a serious disease that led him to Lima where he passed away on July 15, 1833, at the age of 78. Nowadays, his mortal remains rest at the Panteón de los Próceres.

After Hipólito Unanue's death, his son-in-law Francisco de la Mata Linares demanded the release of the extrajudicial inventory, where it was stated that the Isque de Gómez estate had been left by the wise man as inheritance to his youngest son José when he reaches the age of majority.

José Unanue decided to make his first trip through Europe where he fell deeply in love with the majestic Gothic Castle built next to the banks of the German Rhine River offering an impressive view. The Rhine (Rhein, Rhin o Rijn), called "Father" (Vater Rhein) by the German people, runs through a length of 1300 kilometers from its source at the alpine massif of Saint Gottard to its estuary in the North Sea. Along its course around 70 old palaces and countless castles can still be seen.

Powerful men started to fill European landscape with Castles built since the 19th Century. At the beginning their design and construction were simple, but later they became stone-built fortresses. There were so many constructions that according to a Census made in France in 1905 it was recorded, only in that country, more than 10000 remains of castles.

By that time, the construction of a castle lasted one, two or three generations; its construction could take up to 20 years.

All the castles had basements and tunnels. The dungeons were used as cells and also as larders. Above them, there were large vaulted rooms which protected the feudal Lord and his family, his servants and guests. There were especial rooms for granting audiences and administering justice. During the great banquets, some minstrels and jongleurs played music, told Knights' adventures or sang love songs.

On March 8, 1843, Mr José Unanue took definitive control of his father's land. Isque de Gómez, Pepián, and Cerro Blanco were joined in only one property: the huge Unanue Estate.

Two thousand years BC these lands did not show the same conditions as they do nowadays. They became the base of the old course of the Cañete River, and their depth reveals great amount of fine sand, rocks, gravel, boulders, and a thin layer of clay. After the retreat of the river to its current course, some small swamps and pools remained. Some small culture fields were formed through the use of rustic drainage systems. Today they are prodigious lands.

Master and owner of his properties, Mr José Unanue ordered the demolition of the manor house that had been used as a resting spot by the hero and his family, built on top of the same artificial pre-Inca huaca where the Unanue's Castle rises today.

While the family home was inevitably reduced to dust, José Unanue never stopped thinking of the great mansion he saw in Germany. Young José traveled strongly determined to buy large part of the Castle; in fact, after buying it, he immediately disassembled it and shipped it to Peru. An Italian architect arrived with him. There were lots of pieces of a puzzle they had to be assembled. It could have cost around one thousand gold pesos, which is now the equivalent of a million dollars. 

The castle's construction started late in 1843 and finished around 1900. Mr Unanue was extremely patient to make it real his dream of building the most magnificent residence on the Peruvian coast in his father's memory.

It is known that the stained-glass windows, marbles and iron and bronze gates came from the Italian city of Carrara. Its edification preserves both Mozarabic architecture and Gothic style.

Mr José Unanue cultivated corn on his estate. It was a beautiful 594-hectare country estate connected with his offices by a steam train.

A juicy story written by our traditionalist Ricardo Palma says that… "the old people from Cañete remember the masculine figure riding the most spirited colt in the valley … It is Mr Unanue! It is Mr José Unanue!, the local residents said, respectfully yielding the wealthy man's right of way. This elegant and Don Juan-like man had come to visit the shanty towns."

Just like Germany where the castle rose beside the Rhine River, in Peru the castle stands next to the Cañete River.

Few people from Lima know this beautiful Republican mansion, despite being close to Lima and having remarkable importance. Its walls are painted with rectangular shapes and squared at the top. Shades of stretches are different and their colors are paled. Materials in the Cañete area only include plaster, clay, masonry, reed, and animal skin.

From all the country mansions, there is no one like this rare castle which does not belong to the landscape of Cañete. It is a strange place, brought from fantasy and impossible to live in these days.

The fabulous palace is situated on the 146 kilometer of Panamericana Sur Road, an hour and a half from Lima and only three minutes away from San Vicente de Cañete. It is about 13 489,70 m2. It is a unique structure in South America and far superior to the owned by Emperor Peter IV in Brazil, near Rio de Janeiro. They both have certain similarity in their styles.

The Unanue Castle covers all the area of the huaca that had been profaned by constructing tunnels and underground rooms used for incarceration, torture and crime. They must have been also used to run away or hide from buccaneers and bandits and to connect secret dungeons.

Just by going down the castle depths we get in touch with the ministry of cruelty and fear, dungeons with no air or light, tunnels older than the castle, marks showing the torture suffered in their latest hours by those who were in the throes of death. 

In 1924, the tunnels and dungeons existing under the Unanue Castle were also used as the first prison in Cañete. A hundred of male rebels from the Cochahuasi country estate were locked up in the castle's tunnels because they claimed their properties. Nobody ever knew anything about them; they never left this place.

According to an oral story in Cañete, the castle has three tunnels. One of them connects with the Montalbán Estate, three kilometers away. The other connects with the Arona Estate, five kilometers away; and from there to Cerro Azul Port, ten kilometers away. The third tunnel would lead to Cochahuasí Beach, three kilometers from the castle. All these underground paths would have served as way to escape for astute fugitives protected by the darkness of a squalid alley. Today is just an ideal chronicle of a regional legend.

Due to its unique structure, placed in the Cañete Valley as a testimony of the old prosperity in Peru, the Military Board of Government chaired by General Juan Velasco Alvarado issued the Supreme Resolution 2900 declaring it National Historical Monument on December 28, 1972.

A castle without an owner, towers with no watchman, empty rooms, basements where cruelty and fear hides, and tunnels full of bats. It is an authentic history in a remote South American spot.

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