3 basic reasons to save Casona de Sojo

The centennial building, in the edge of Sullana Province, seems to be counting its last hours.

 


 

 

The following photographs show the structural damages as found on February 9th, 2024, distributed by FACTORTIERRA.

 

SOJO, Peru – The house that was the headquarters of the estate managed by Miguel Checa Checa (tambograndé, Jul. 5, 1861 – Piura City, Oct. 19, 1935), that extended across 111,192 acres (like 10 Jersey Cities) along actual Piura Department , is bringing down in pieces.

 






It
has left vulnerable because of three extraordinary El Niño events (1983, 1997, 2017), two strong and nearby earthquakes (2021, 2022), and the lack of maintenance.

 

According to Carlos Checa Leigh, grand-grandson of Miguel Checa Checa and actual manager of the house, one of the major threats is the indifference of authorities and citizens. Maybe not at all. As much as FACTTORTIERRA learned, , there are cultural collectives interested in participating to recover the estate, but they don’t have clear how.

 

Key facts

The house (“la casona”) and the whole surrounding property are located beside the west of Sojo Town, capital of Miguel Checa District, practically at the southwest corner of Sullana Province, which borders Paita Province. Its actual land is 67 acres (like ¾ parts of Vatican City).

 






It’s 11 miles by car from Sullana Main Square, beside the road connecting it to Paita City.

 

The official history substantiates it started to build in 1910, it reigned majestic about half a century. It was expropriated in 1968 after the Agrarian Reform ruled by Piura-native Juan Velasco Alvarado, Peru’s de-factum President (1968 to 1975).

 






















































The farmers  who Benefit with the Reform managed for a decade more, until it was returned to Checa Family in 1980.

 

Why it must be saved

  1. It owns an official protection from the Peruvian Government: In fact, it was declared Monumental Patrimony of the Nation in 1974. Later, in 2023, the Peruvian Government enacted a law urging its restoration and its availability for the public, that it assigned to the joint work of Ministries of Culture, and Industry, Foreign Trade, and Tourism.  Also, to the Regional Government of Piura as well as the Municipalities of Sullana Province and Miguel Checa District. At this closure, it’s ignored if any of these institutions plan to apply this rule.
  2. It’s a mixed structure despite its Republican design: Indeed, it combines in harmony finishings in Italian marble, plague-proof wood, bricks, stucco, and qincha (mix of cane and mud). In other words, the best of the European engineering of that time with the millennial tradition of Peruvian Northern to build homes resistant to almost everything… except heavy rains, intense quakes, and fires.
  3. It’s organically matched to the environment: First of all, it takes advantage of a little elevation in the terrain but it adds very well to the green landscape of Lower Chira Valley, that is watched from its backyard’s balcony toward the west (La Huaca District, Paita Province, actually). At its side, there is La Mariposa Huaca, evidence of Pre-Hispanic occupation. It’s close to Chira River, just in front of the historic Tangarará Town (Marcavelica District), just few steps crossing the river. If all this is integrated in an experiential tourism circuit (the casona has a long tradition by cropping cotton), it would empower any restoration and availability effort. Anything else? Actual Sullana-Paita Road wwas, until 1962, the Trail of the railroad that connected both cities.

 

Go into it if you want to have further information about the casona (in Spanish).

 

Entra aquí si deseas tener más información sobre la casona.

 

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