Plaza Mayor, Lima

The Plaza Mayor or Plaza de Armas of Lima, is the birthplace of the city of Lima, as well as the core of the city. Located in the Historic Centre of Lima, it is surrounded by the Government Palace, Cathedral of Lima, Archbishop's Palace of Lima, the Municipal Palace, and the Palace of the Union.

The Plaza de Armas is surrounded by the Jiron Junin, Jiron de la Union, Jiron Huallaga, and the Jiron Carabaja avenues.

In 1523, King Charles I of Spain mandated the Procedures for the creation of cities in the New World. These procedures indicated that after outlining a city's plan, growth should follow a grid centered on the square shape of the plaza.

On the day of the foundation of the city, January 18, 1535, the conquistadorFrancisco Pizarro, conforming to established procedure, designated a location to build the plaza. Later, Pizarro and Nicolas de Rivera, the city's first mayor, toured the city's location and split parcels. Pizarro, taking advantage of his title of founder and governor, took a large parcel of land between the north side of the plaza and the Rimac river. The lot to the south of the plaza was designated to be a church, the western lot was to be the site of a city council, and the rest of the lots were divided among the rest of the conquistadors.

The 17th century historian Bernabé Cobo said of the plaza:

..."it is the finest and most well-formed [plaza] that I have ever seen, even in Spain. It occupies an entire block, with the width of four streets on one side and four streets on the other, and with all four sides it measures more than two thousand feet; it is very flat..."

Subsequently, the viceroy Diego López de Zúñiga y Velasco, count of Nieva, proposed the gallows, which had previously been located at the centre of the plaza, be moved nearer to the river to the location which is now the Desamparados train station. In place of it, a new water fountain was built at the centre of the plaza. The gallows were returned to the south side of the plaza on the Callejon de Petateros.

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Wikipedia