Ernest Malinowski: The 19th-Century Engineer Who Defended Peru

Ernest Malinowski’s dream was to build a railroad that “will reach the cloudsâ€. Born in Poland in 1818, Malinowski came to Peru when Spain was trying to hold on to its last colonies. Considered a hero in the Battle of Callao, Malinowski helped Peru maintain its sovereignty in a time of need. Malinowski would go on to advance the country’s development by building Peru’s “Railroad in the Cloudsâ€, better known as The Central Andean Railway. Just how did this Polish engineer become such a hero in Peru?

Ernest Malinowski, who constructed the world’s highest railway at the time. Its height would only be surpassed in 2006, when a segment of the railway in Tibet was built at 16,404 feet.

Early years

In 1812, Malinowski’s father Jacob fought for Napoleon during the Russian campaign. Ernest, one of Jacob’s four children, was born in the Russian partition of Poland six years later. In 1830, his father Jacob again fought the Russians in the November Uprising, a Polish rebellion against Russian rule.

After the uprising was defeated, the family had to leave and went to France, where they settled. Ernest then graduated from the prestigious National School of Roads and Bridges in Paris and began building railroads near Paris. He later went to Algeria building roads and ports, and then returned to France. In 1852, he moved to Peru on a six-year contract, under which he was to build roads and bridges, as well as provide technical education.

One of the many railway bridges on the Central Andean Railway designed by Malinowski.

National Hero

Malinowski ended up doing far more and staying much longer than planned. Apart from opening a technical school and building railroads, he helped carry out monetary reform, worked on the rebuilding of the war-devastated town of Arequipa and, last but not least, helped save the country from the Spaniards by winning the battle of the Port of Callao.

In 1866, the Spanish Armada sailed to South America to recapture former Spanish colonies. Malinowski commanded the artillery units that fired on the Spanish war fleet from a fort embankment in the Port of Callao. Before the battle, he had cannons mounted on rail-mobile platforms that were camouflaged. When the Spanish ships came close to the port, they were hit by artillery fire that was never expected. All of the ships were damaged and Peru, with its South American allies, won a decisive victory. Malinowski was named a national hero and made an honorary citizen of Peru; however, this wasn’t the last achievement he would undertake for his country.

One of the many mountain tunnels on the Central Andean Railway designed by Malinowski.

The Central Andean Railway

In 1868, the Peruvian Congress asked for bids to build a railroad connecting the Andes to the Pacific coast. American investor Henry Meiggs was the winning bidder and he asked Malinowski to design the railroad. When he presented his design, some thought it impossible to build a railroad with complex bridges and tunnels at altitudes of over 13,125 feet. Despite this, Malinowski’s design was accepted by Peru’s president, Manuel Pardo, who was a personal friend of the war hero.

Work began on the first section in 1870 and was completed in 1878. The second section was completed in 1893 and the railroad was now 136 miles long. Malinowski had achieved the impossible by building the highest railroad in the world.

A period photo of one of Malinowski’s steel bridges on the Central Trans-Andean Railway.

After Malinowski’s death in 1899, work to extend the line continued and the line was completed in 1908 and now measured 215 miles long.

In 1999, on the 100th anniversary of Malinowski’s death, a memorial to Malinowski was erected at the Ticlio pass in the Andes at an altitude of 15,807 feet, which is the railroad’s highest point. A fitting tribute to the man who gave his utmost to his adopted country.

Memorial to Ernest Malinowski in Ticlio Pass, Peru (elevation 15,750 feet). It has the following inscription in Spanish and Polish: “Ernest Malinowski 1818-1899. Polish Engineer. Peruvian Patriot. Hero of the Defense of Callao in 1866. Builder of the Central Andean Railway.â€

A pair of Peruvian stamps issued in 2018 to celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of Ernest Malinowski. Among the main goals of the bicentenary was the minting of a commemorative coin, an itinerant exhibition about his life and work, a film documentary, a book dedicated to his biography, and establishing an Ernest Malinowski Chair at one of Peru’s universities.