The original Miraflores César’s Hotel, inaugurated in 1976, was a revered Lima institution. The capital’s first five-star hotel, it remains a place that Limeños of all ages recall fondly. César’s hosted a large roster of international who’s who—including celebrities, business magnates, and politicians, such as Frank Sinatra, Julio Iglesias, Roman Polanski, and the Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges (who idiosyncratically ordered dry cornflakes every morning in the La Vereda cafeteria).

The hotel, an icon of Lima modern design, was built by the architects Enrique Seoane and Richard Malachowski. At the end of the last century, Hotel César’s closed its doors to the public, and for Miraflores residents it became a ghostly presence. The painstaking renovation and 2008 rebirth revived key elements of the original hotel. The restored original piano again occupies a prominent place in the lobby, and even the original pianist, Arturo del Pozo, has returned many years later to play nightly. The hotel’s reopening as this Miraflores hotel is a distinguished new chapter in its legend.