[2] In 1921, during the second government of Augusto B. Leguía, the Centennial of the Independence of Peru was celebrated and many colonies of foreign residents decided to grant gifts in the form of monuments to the Peruvian State.

[2] In 1938, President Óscar R. Benavides and his Minister of Development, Héctor Boza, ordered the demolition of the monument, alluding to traffic problems that it caused, and to widen Arequipa Avenue.

The destruction with dynamite the following year caused unrest in the Spanish community, and some even interpreted Benavides' order as an act of political revenge against former President Leguía.

Years later, when he was mayor of the Santiago de Surco district, he was able to carry out the work, with the financing of various Spanish companies.

[2] On September 25, 2001, Mayor Dargent and the Spanish colony, with the presence of the King and Queen of Spain, inaugurated the new Friendship Arch, a faithful copy of its predecessor, located in the María Graña Ottone Friendship Park, in the intersection of Alfredo Benavides and Caminos del Inca avenues.