Dora Mayer was a key figure in 20th century Peru. However, her life and work are still unknown to us. She arrived in Peru in 1873, at the age of five, with a Protestant family who adopted her from Hamburg, Germany. The privileged family upbringing she received created the necessary arrangements for her to continue her studies in a self-taught manner, which allowed her to make her way in the press in Lima society, where women still did not have a defined space.  Thus, despite the many limitations imposed on her, she managed to position herself in the public sphere, showing herself to be on an equal footing with men. In this way, her intellectual, social and sentimental activity succeeded in revolutionising the biological fatality that relegated women to the private sphere, and in a unique way, she assumed her role as a herald of the future emancipation of women.

The bio-bibliographical exhibition covered the various facets that Dora Mayer exercised and how they were articulated under a thought that was translated into action. At the same time, she sought to celebrate the indigenist, philosopher, feminist and politician, as well as to celebrate the perseverance of someone who knew how to open the doors of the public sphere to women during the process of Peruvian modernisation. The 60th anniversary of her birth has been the occasion that has allowed us to vindicate her role as a worthy representative of the Peruvian intellectual avant-garde.