Arturo Rafael Jerónimo Valiente spends his days shaping earth into bricks that help keep Chan Chan standing. Decades ago, he learned the craft in a small artisanal brickyard, never imagining his hands would one day help safeguard the largest adobe city on the planet, whose survival depends on knowledge passed down through generations.
Chan Chan, once the capital of the Chimú kingdom, sprawls across nearly 20 square kilometers on Peru’s northern coast. Its monumental basic contains ten walled compounds and ancient roads, along with ceremonial spaces. Geometric reliefs there are associated with the marine environment. Built primarily from adobe, a sun-dried earthen material, the city was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1986. Its fragile mud architecture has required sustained care, especially as climate events and human threats intensify.
From Childhood Labor to Heritage Protection
Arturo’s journey began in childhood, when he molded bricks from local soil and water. Over time, he learned to read the land, identifying the right mix of earth and sand, with small stones, to make sturdy, weather-resistant blocks. This practical expertise, once a means of survival, became a rare asset fifteen years ago, when a friend told him Chan Chan needed skilled adoberos for a new conservation project.
He joined the so-called Laberinto project and has worked there ever since, alongside archaeologists and conservationists. “What amazes me most about Chan Chan is how our ancestors built such a vast city from mud,” he says. Even after years on the job, the site’s scale and ingenuity continue to inspire him.
Crafting Bricks for a Living Monument
Preserving Chan Chan demands more than traditional brickmaking. The adobe pieces Arturo produces are tailored to the site’s needs. The recipe uses confitillo, or small gravel, in a carefully balanced blend of earth and sand that matches the original materials and withstands the region’s harsh conditions. Each brick is shaped and dried with precision. The bricks reinforce vulnerable sections and cap exposed surfaces. They also form protective barriers where erosion threatens.
Specialists guide every intervention, deciding where new bricks can best support the ancient structures. Research into mortars and plasters continues, with the aim of refining the materials and techniques that give Chan Chan the best chance of survival. The work is painstaking: rain can crack walls and undermine foundations. Salt and wind, along with groundwater and temperature swings, also accelerate decay. Visitor management is part of conservation, too. Site guidance tells visitors not to climb walls or touch reliefs. They must stay on designated paths and follow staff directions.
Endangered by Nature and People
Chan Chan’s challenges go beyond the weather. The aridity of Peru’s northern coastal desert has aided its survival, but the earthen walls remain vulnerable when strong El Niño events bring abnormal rainfall and flooding. Heavy precipitation can erode and weaken adobe structures, making climate risk a recurring conservation concern. Human threats are just as pressing. Illegal settlements and urban sprawl have encroached on the archaeological zone for years, complicating conservation efforts. In May 2025, Peru’s Ministry of Culture condemned graffiti sprayed on original walls. The following month, authorities dismantled unauthorized structures covering 10,000 square meters in the Los Huachaques sector.
Climate planning now extends beyond individual monuments. In October 2026, Peru’s Comisión FEN convened more than 100 business representatives to discuss responses to El Niño, including proposals to protect archaeological sites. Chan Chan was named alongside Mateo Salado and Marcahuamachuco. The initiative reflects the need to prepare for climate-related threats across sites and regions. Meanwhile, Chan Chan’s day-to-day protection still depends on conservation work and careful management of visitor movement.
Despite these pressures, the work of adoberos like Arturo remains impressive. Each brick he shapes is a small act of resistance against time, weather and neglect, helping keep the memory of the Chimú civilization alive amid mounting risks.
Why Chan Chan Matters
Chan Chan demonstrates ancient engineering and shows how traditional skills can become critical tools for heritage preservation. Its approximately 20-square-kilometer footprint makes conservation a continuing task across a vast archaeological field, not a matter of repairing a single structure. Information from data from Talent24h, the city’s survival depends on scientific research and community involvement, with people like Arturo contributing hands-on expertise.
Peru’s Ministry of Culture has also framed conservation as a public-access responsibility. In October 2026, it said its “Chan Chan para Todos” program had received national recognition in the inclusion and disability category of the sixth Inclusive Management Proven Methods Competition. The program links heritage protection with efforts to make the site more accessible. It reflects the ministry’s view that conservation should create opportunities for more people to experience the heritage.
International academic collaboration is another part of the wider preservation effort. A University of Florida project, supported by a $245,000 U.S. State Department Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation grant, is working with the University of Trujillo to preserve and study Peruvian cultural collections. Its broader program prioritizes about 2,000 to 2,500 objects in poor condition, while the collaborating team is also conducting excavation at Chan Chan. As climate change and urbanization continue to threaten sites like Chan Chan, specialized knowledge and sustained conservation will grow in value, alongside responsible public access.
