The squares have historically been a meeting place, where public events, markets and other events have been held that have made them a very important part of each of our cities, being the nerve center of many of them. There are many types and many different architectural styles, but all of them keep a charm and an atmosphere that make them unique and essential places to visit in each of their municipalities.
The 10 amazing main squares of Spain
Plaza del Obradoiro, in Santiago de Compostela
In Compostela the hours are the same hour, eternally repeated under the rainy sky, said Valle-Inclán. In the Plaza del Obradoiro, around the tomb of the apostle, the Romanesque, Renaissance, Plateresque, Baroque and Neoclassical styles come together in harmony given by the stone.
The Plaza del Obradoiro is the heart of Santiago de Compostela, its name alludes to the stonemasonry workshop or workshop that worked in the back of the cathedral during its construction. Hundreds of pilgrims arrive every day today. In the center of this beautiful square is kilometer 0 of all the roads to Santiago. The buildings that surround it are samples of different architectural styles. To the east, the baroque facade of the cathedral flanked by the cathedral museum to its right and the Gelmírez palace to its left.
To the west of the square is the Rajoy palace, today the town hall (in addition to other uses), built by Archbishop Bartolomé de Rajoy to accommodate the residence of the canons. To the north, the Hostal de los Reyes Católicos, a masterpiece of the Plateresque style that formerly served as a shelter for pilgrims. To the south, the Colegio de San Jerónimo, which went from being a hospital for pilgrims to a residence for young students without resources. Currently, it houses the rectory of the University of Santiago de Compostela.
Plaza de España, in Seville
Integrated into the María Luisa park, this square was designed by the Sevillian architect Aníbal González as an emblematic space for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. It has a total area of 50,000 square meters, and a navigable canal extends along its entire perimeter. 515 meters long.
The Plaza de España has been used as settings in multiple and varied films. In this sense, the European Film Academy has chosen it as a Treasure of European Cinematographic Culture, a distinction that it grants to cinematographic spaces and locations of a symbolic nature of great historical value for cinema. Among the most outstanding productions shot are:
Lawrence of Arabia (1962): the square represented the headquarters of the British army in Cairo. The Wind and the Lion (1975): starring Sean Connery, the square appears while some troops parade. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002): from the Star Wars saga, the square represents the royal palace on the planet Naboo, although the filming setting was digitally modified.
Plaza Mayor, in Madrid
With a little over four centuries of history, the nerve center of the capital, almost next to the Puerta del Sol, has been the scene of coronations, markets, autos-da-fe, bullfights and Goyesque festivals. It was Felipe II who decided to give it packaging in the 16th century and the architect Juan de Herrera who devised it as we know it. The equestrian statue of King Felipe III occupies the center of the square, between the Casa de la Panadería and the Casa de la Carnicería.
The Plaza Mayor became from its beginnings, not only the main market of the town, both for food, supplied by the numerous tablajeros watched over by the Repeso, and for other genres, the main guilds settling in its arcades; but also on the stage of numerous public events, such as bullfights, autos-da-fe, immortalizing the painter Francisco Rizi the one held in 1680, public executions, placing the gallows in front of the clothiers’ portal if the penalty was garrote; in front of the Bakery House, if it was a gallows, and in front of the Butcher House, if it was a knife or an axe. The beatification of San Isidro, patron saint of Madrid, was also celebrated in the Plaza Mayor.
The Plaza Mayor is currently an important tourist spot, visited by thousands of tourists a year. In the commercial premises located under the arcades, catering businesses abound, which set up terraces next to the arcades of the square. In addition, it is a space widely used for festivals, such as the concerts that are offered free of charge for the people of Madrid during the San Isidro festivities.
Plaza Mayor, in Trujillo, Cáceres
It is the epicenter of the town of Cáceres, classified as an asset of cultural interest and integrated into the network of The Most Beautiful Towns in Spain. Trujillo is part of the Route of the Conquerors. Orellana, an explorer of the Amazon River, and Francisco Pizarro, whose bronze equestrian statue presides over this space enclosed by 19th-century houses, the church of San Martín and several Renaissance palaces with coats of arms and storks’ nests, were born there. In its arcades is the emblematic inn La Troya.
Plaza Mayor, Almagro, Ciudad Real
Located about 30 kilometers southeast of Ciudad Real, the historic town of Almagro brings together a good number of Renaissance palaces, Gothic churches and old convents, as well as the famous Corral de Comedias, in a corral that is accessed through an arcade of the Plaza Mayor, of medieval origin and reformed in the 16th century with the money of the Függer (Fúcares, once castilianized), the German banking family of Emperor Charles V, who left their mark on the glass-enclosed galleries and the green color of its wooden frames on the arcades.
Plaza Mayor, in Santillana del Mar, Cantabria
At the epicenter of this Cantabrian town of just over 1,100 inhabitants, a monumental complex of cobbled streets, wooden balconies, Renaissance palaces and stately mansions, are the Town Hall, the Águila and La Parra houses, the Gil Blas inn (which owes its name to a character created in the 18th century by the French author Alain-René Lesage in his picaresque novel “The Adventures of Gil Blas de Santillana”), and the tower of Don Borja, from the 15th century.
The square from which buildings such as the Town Hall, the imposing Merino and Don Borja towers, and the statue of a bison, which watches over the care of the medieval landscape that surrounds the souk, rise. Cobbled epicenter of the town, where the old air blends with modernity among beautiful flowers, which liven up the square with their beautiful colors.
Plaza Mayor, in Pedraza, Segovia
Houses emblazoned with roof tiles, wooden beams and hidden arcades are the hallmarks of this dazzlingly beautiful walled town in the foothills of the Sierra de Guadarrama. Famous thanks to the “candlelight concerts”, it appears on the list of The Most Beautiful Towns in Spain and its streets and Plaza Mayor have served as a set for fifty films.
The main square of Salamanca is located, built between 1729 and 1756, in full Baroque movement. Alberto Churriguera was the architect who designed the original project, of which there were no substantial modifications. The promoter, although he did not get the financing and did get the permission of Felipe V, was Rodrigo Caballero de Llanes. The sides of the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca are known as “lienzos” or “pabellones”.
It is one of the most diaphanous squares we know. Inside is the famous Café Novelty: inaugurated in 1905, it soon became the literary and artistic center of the city, on a par with Café Gijón in Madrid. Ortega y Gasset, Juan Benet, Francisco Umbral, Carmen Martín Gaite established their gatherings here. Since 2000, there has been a sculpture by Torrente Ballester in the Novelty. Unamuno, from here, said of the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca: «he is a quadrilateral. Irregular, but surprisingly harmonious».
Plaza de Alfonso II el Casto, in Oviedo, Asturias
The old town of Oviedo swirls around the cathedral, Gothic and with a single tower. Inside is the Holy Chamber, where a treasure of jewels and relics is kept. On the opposite side of the square where the cathedral stands is the statue of Ana Ozores, La Regenta, in front of the house where, according to the Clarín novel, the character lived.
In addition to the imposing Gothic cathedral and the Jardín de los Reyes Caudillos located next to it, the Valdecarzana y Heredia Palace stands out, on the left side of the square, declared a Historic-Artistic Monument: Baroque in style, built in 1627 and later renovated in 1774, it was the residence of the Marquises of Valdecarzana-Heredia, whose coat of arms can be seen in the central part of the façade.
This palace housed a casino from the 19th century until 1931; At present it is the headquarters of the Territorial Court of Asturias. After the Cathedral, the most prominent building in the square is the Casa de la Rúa or Palace of the Marquises of Santa Cruz de Marcenado.
Casa de la Rúa is one of the oldest civil buildings in the city. This austere late-Gothic construction, built in the 15th century, is one of the few buildings that survived the great fire in the city of 1521.
It is a clear example of medieval architecture, with openings arranged in a disorderly manner on the façade and a patio with an interior garden. Its passage through different eras and artistic styles makes it an imposing and eclectic building with its own personality, singular beauty and enormous artistic value. Next to it, the Capilla de la Balesquida, a Baroque chapel from the 17th century, rebuilt in 1725.
Plaza de la Virgen, in Valencia
In the Valencian Plaza de la Virgen is the fountain of the god Turia, dedicated to the river that crosses the city. Also the Puerta de Arquivoltas, where the Tribunal de las Aguas meets; the Basilica of Nuestra Señora de los Desamparados, to which flowers are offered during the Fallas; and the Generalitat building.
Plaza de la Virgen is located in the Ciutat Vella district, in the La Seu neighborhood. The square has an irregular shape, although it tends to be a quadrilateral. It is totally pedestrian.
It is limited, to the east, by the Basilica of the Virgen de los Desamparados; to the west, through the gardens of the Palace of the Generalitat and through a building for private homes; to the north, also by private residential buildings; to the south, by the Cathedral and by the so-called Casa Vestuario, which serves as a meeting place for the members of the Tribunal de las Aguas before and after their sessions before the Puerta de los Apóstoles of the cathedral. On the facade of the Casa Vestuario there is a commemorative plaque of the visit to the square of Pope John Paul II, on December 8, 1982.
Plaza Alta, in Badajoz
Although it is not one of the most famous, the Plaza Alta de Badajoz, but when you set foot in it, its unique architecture evokes the old Islamic city, since the city souk was located there.
Recently rehabilitated, it was for several centuries the center of the city since it exceeded the limits of the Muslim citadel. Previously, it was known as a public square or simply “the square”.
2023-08-04 17:31:44
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