Baku, October 15, AZERTAC Located at the mouth of the Moche Valley in an arid section of the coastal desert of northern Peru, Chan Chan is an archaeological site and ancient capital of the disappeared Chimú Kingdom. Chan Chan was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986.The ruins of Chan Chan, which covers nearly 14 square miles (36 square km), are in fairly good condition because the area is usually rainless. The building material used was adobe brick, and the buildings were finished with mud frequently adorned with patterned relief arabesques. The centre of the city consists of several walled citadels, or quadrangles. Each of these contains pyramidal temples, cemeteries, gardens, reservoirs, and symmetrically arranged rooms. These quadrangles presumably were the living quarters, burial places, and storehouses of the aristocracy. Most of the city’s population—artisans and farmers—lived outside the quadrangles in modest quarters of less-durable construction. Extensive agricultural areas and a remnant irrigation system have been found further to the north, east and west of the city.The planning of the largest earthen city of pre-Columbian America is an absolute masterpiece of town planning.Chan Chan bears a unique testimony and is the most representative city of the disappeared Chimu kingdom where eleven thousand years of cultural evolution in northern Peru are synthesized and expressed. The architectural ensemble uniquely integrated the symbolic and sacred architecture with technological knowledge and the adaptation to the native environment.