distrito (district), south of central Lima city in the Lima–Callao metropolitan area in Peru. Given district status in 1963, Jesús María is mainly a middle- and upper-income residential area. Most striking is its architecturally innovative San Felipe housing development, a mixture of high-rise apartment buildings and townhouses built on the site of the old municipal racetrack. The ministries of aeronautics, navy, public health, and labour are all located in the district, as are vast police, military, and workers' hospitals. It also contains Peru's Natural History Museum and the University of the Pacific (1962). Parades and public assemblies are held at the Campo de Marte. Pop. (2005) 58,588.