Perched over a cliff above the southern Peruvian coast stands Castillo Forga: an abandoned, century-old mansion that towers over the coastal landscape of the small yet historically significant port town of Mollendo in southern Peru.
Castillo Forga was built between 1908 and 1910, commissioned by José Miguel Forga, a wealthy landowner and textile businessman from Arequipa who had a deep admiration for European-style architecture. The mansion itself is an example of neo-Gothic architecture, with some Neoclassical and Baroque elements, and was only accessible by an iron bridge that connected the cliff with the rest of the town. Nowadays known as Castillo Forga, the place was originally known as “Casa Blanca” (White House) and was the go-to place for parties and meetings of the elite of Arequipa during the ensuing years.
Due to the global economic crisis of 1929, Forga accumulated a significant tax debt which was finally collected during the administration of President Manuel Prado. As part of the payment, the mansion was confiscated and handed over to the archbishop of Arequipa. Throughout the following decades, the mansion changed ownership several times, but was poorly maintained and basically abandoned.
In recent years, the Peruvian state expropriated Castillo Forga and surrounding land to initiate restoration works, over a century after its initial construction. While the interiors remain unoccupied and closed to visitors, the mansion’s exterior is visible from nearly every beach in Mollendo, which today serves also as a summer destination for people located in nearby cities, mainly Arequipa.
Despite its current deteriorated state, Castillo Forga has become a beloved symbol of the town, serving as an oddly placed landmark that looms over the sandy shores like a silent sentinel from another era.
