Fury as vandal is filmed spray painting a penis onto wall at ancient Peruvian UNESCO site

By TARYN PEDLER

Published: 14:33 BST, 13 May 2025 | Updated: 14:34 BST, 13 May 2025

A vandal has sparked outrage after being filmed spray painting a penis onto a wall at an ancient Peruvian UNESCO site.

In footage, the man was seen spraying the crude graffiti on one of the original walls of Chan Chan, a pre-Columbian city 300 miles north of Lima that is flooded with thousands of visitors each month.

He wore a backpack and drew a giant black penis on the stone which is more than 600 years old and a World Heritage Site. 

Peru’s ministry of culture said the culprit showed ‘a grave disrespect toward our history and cultural heritage, as well as a violation of the regulations that protect archaeological heritage sites.

‘We express our strongest condemnation of this regrettable act of vandalism,’ the ministry emphasised in its statement. 

Authorities have not yet identified the attacker but he could face up to six years behind bars if he is caught under Peruvian heritage protection statutes.

The clip of the incident has made its rounds of social media, leaving viewers stunned at how he was able to damage the wall unchallenged. Others questioned why the site was not better protected.

Chan Chan was the capital of the Chimu kingdom before it fell to the Incas in the 15th century and it remains one of Peru’s most important archaeological sites. 

A vandal has sparked outrage after being filmed spray painting a penis onto a wall at ancient an UNESCO site in  the pre-Columbian Peruvian city of Chan Chan

Peru’s ministry of culture said the culprit showed ‘a grave disrespect toward our history and cultural heritage’

The Citadel of Chan Chan was built on an area of ​​approximately 20 square kilometers, featured ten palaces, and at its peak housed approximately 30,000 inhabitants.

It is regarded as the largest mud city in the world. 

The complex features temples, residential structures, and storage buildings, any adorned with intricate and symbolic carvings.

It was recognised as a World Heritage Site in 1986 by UNESCO and that same year it was added to the list of world heritage sites in danger. 

Chan Chan, which means shining sun in the native language, was built with adobe and mud and is the largest city in the Americas built with that material, according to UNESCO.

Together with the stone citadels of Machu Picchu and Caral, Chan Chan forms the most important archaeological complexes in Peru. 

The spray paint attack comes just months after an intoxicated man chipped the 12-Angle Stone, a famous Incan artefact in the city of Cusco. 

Just before 1am on February 18, a Peruvian citizen attacked the stone, chipping it in six visible places, according to a government statement.

Mud walls of Chan Chan citadel, in Trujillo, Peru

Chan Chan was recognised as a World Heritage Site in 1986 by UNESCO and that same year it was added to the list of world heritage sites in danger

‘This is a heritage we all share, and we must defend it,’ Jorge Moya Coháguila, director of the Decentralised Directorate of Culture of Cusco told Andina News Agency at the time. 

‘Our specialists are evaluating the degree of damage,’ and authorities will take ‘the necessary actions with specialised organizations’ to restore the stone. 

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Fury as vandal is filmed spray painting a penis onto wall at ancient Peruvian UNESCO site

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