The main square is the main square of some towns in Spanish and Latin American urban planning. Particularly in some countries in America, they are called parade ground. The parade grounds are located within the castles or forts of the nobles who had a noble shield, which were their weapons. The term "main square" is explicitly foreseen in an ordinance of the Catholic Monarchs of 1480 as the one that must be the place of a town with enough open space to hold the market and in which the town hall house must be installed. [1] Castilian urban planning was applied during the conquest of America for the founding of new cities, in addition to the "main square" the "main square" was used, due to the prevention of using them as the main meeting point in case of an attack, so that, in addition to the main public buildings (town hall and main church "Church (building)"), they housed arsenals "Arsenal (armament)") or weapons garrisons (see Ordinances of Philip II of 1576).
The official name of many squares with these names, like the rest of the urban toponymy, has undergone changes of a political nature. For example, in Spain it has been common to replace it with Plaza Real or Plaza de la Constitución alternatively as the government changed over the centuries, while in some countries in America they were called Plaza de la Independencia.
As an urban concept, an open space that allows contact and communication between citizens and a large number of urban functions, it was born from the arrabal plazas or market squares at the gates of the walls, but outside the walled enclosure (medina "Medina (neighborhood)") in Arab urban planning), while other squares typical of the Mediterranean space with which it shares the benign climate, such as the Roman forum or the Greek agora, were in the same center. urban.
The Arab souk was more commonly a labyrinthine space of streets and not an open space,[n 1] if not completely closed, like the bazaar in the Near East. The other urban functions were distributed by the mosque (religious and judicial), the citadel (military)... so there was no space as privileged as the main squares.
The suburban squares were absorbed by the growth of the urban hamlets, remaining in a more central position and increasing the height of their buildings (heights of more than two floors were not common), projecting the upper floors over arcades, etc. In certain cases, especially based on the new aesthetic ideals of the Renaissance, the homogenization of the layout was sought following the urban planning of a municipal or royal architect or master builder, as occurred after the fire of the Plaza Mayor of Valladolid in 1561, an opportunity taken to design a new regular plaza designed by Francisco de Salamanca "Francisco de Salamanca (architect)"). In other cases, the access streets were covered, thus obtaining a continuous closed space, such as the one designed by Nicolás Churriguera in the Plaza Mayor of Salamanca (1724) and the one that was finally given to the Plaza Mayor in Madrid (varied from the 16th to the 18th centuries by architects of the stature of Juan de Herrera, Juan Gómez de Mora and Juan de Villanueva).
emblematic square
Introduction
The main square is the main square of some towns in Spanish and Latin American urban planning. Particularly in some countries in America, they are called parade ground. The parade grounds are located within the castles or forts of the nobles who had a noble shield, which were their weapons. The term "main square" is explicitly foreseen in an ordinance of the Catholic Monarchs of 1480 as the one that must be the place of a town with enough open space to hold the market and in which the town hall house must be installed. [1] Castilian urban planning was applied during the conquest of America for the founding of new cities, in addition to the "main square" the "main square" was used, due to the prevention of using them as the main meeting point in case of an attack, so that, in addition to the main public buildings (town hall and main church "Church (building)"), they housed arsenals "Arsenal (armament)") or weapons garrisons (see Ordinances of Philip II of 1576).
The official name of many squares with these names, like the rest of the urban toponymy, has undergone changes of a political nature. For example, in Spain it has been common to replace it with Plaza Real or Plaza de la Constitución alternatively as the government changed over the centuries, while in some countries in America they were called Plaza de la Independencia.
As an urban concept, an open space that allows contact and communication between citizens and a large number of urban functions, it was born from the arrabal plazas or market squares at the gates of the walls, but outside the walled enclosure (medina "Medina (neighborhood)") in Arab urban planning), while other squares typical of the Mediterranean space with which it shares the benign climate, such as the Roman forum or the Greek agora, were in the same center. urban.
The Arab souk was more commonly a labyrinthine space of streets and not an open space,[n 1] if not completely closed, like the bazaar in the Near East. The other urban functions were distributed by the mosque (religious and judicial), the citadel (military)... so there was no space as privileged as the main squares.
The suburban squares were absorbed by the growth of the urban hamlets, remaining in a more central position and increasing the height of their buildings (heights of more than two floors were not common), projecting the upper floors over arcades, etc. In certain cases, especially based on the new aesthetic ideals of the Renaissance, the homogenization of the layout was sought following the urban planning of a municipal or royal architect or master builder, as occurred after the fire of the Plaza Mayor of Valladolid in 1561, an opportunity taken to design a new regular plaza designed by Francisco de Salamanca "Francisco de Salamanca (architect)"). In other cases, the access streets were covered, thus obtaining a continuous closed space, such as the one designed by Nicolás Churriguera in the Plaza Mayor of Salamanca (1724) and the one that was finally given to the Plaza Mayor in Madrid (varied from the 16th to the 18th centuries by architects of the stature of Juan de Herrera, Juan Gómez de Mora and Juan de Villanueva).
The first news that we have of a regular layout in a Plaza Mayor in Castilla is in the Villa de Sigüenza (Guadalajara) "Sigüenza (Guadalajara)"), the result of the efforts of the titular bishop Cardinal Pedro González de Mendoza, who commissioned different master builders to expand the public spaces around the Cathedral. To do this he followed the classical custom that he had known in Italy. Among these master builders were Juan de Talavera and Francisco de Baeza.[2].
The urban functions that the main squares fulfilled, in addition to the original market, were expanded to that of political space (with the location of municipal buildings) and space for celebrations and solemnities, such as bullfights (which ended up being associated with circular spaces made specifically instead of the original rectangular ones), auto de fe of the Inquisition (the solemn part, not the burning of the condemned, which was done in the brazier, in more discreet places), public executions of a civil scope,[n 2] without forgetting the function of a space for social conflict, since the main squares are the meeting point in case of a subsistence riot (in the Old Regime) or demonstration (in the Contemporary Age).[n 3].
In America, the main squares are planned from the layout of the cities, such as the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, the Plaza de la Independencia (Quito) "Plaza de la Independencia (Quito)") in Quito, as in the Zócalo "Plaza de la Constitución (Mexico City)") in Mexico or the Plaza de Bolívar in Bogotá, due to the demolition of previous indigenous buildings.
In 1950, Robert Ricard[3] dates the origin of the Spanish Plaza Mayor to the last decades of the century and distinguishes two types: "noble and monumental" (Madrid and Salamanca) and "modest with a vulgar air" (Burgos, Segovia, Toledo), and states that Muslim cities did not have them. He adds that in America it was “the center and symbol of the city and organism around which its life took place. It could be said, without great exaggeration, that a Latin American city is a Plaza Mayor surrounded by streets and houses, rather than a set of streets and houses around a Plaza Mayor. The American Plaza Mayor, larger than the Spanish one, was not monumental but because of the buildings that surrounded it. In addition to the municipal square, it had the presence of the Church "Church (organization)"), residence of the authorities, court and prison.
Later, different aspects emerged that differed regarding the origin of the Plaza Mayor in Spain and in America (the indigenist highlights the influence of pre-Hispanic cities as a model of the city of the conquest, and that in those there were already large ceremonial and market squares), but the truth is that the "policy of Spain turned America into a place of rehearsals between 1492 and 1573", creating a classic model of the Spanish-American colonial city that Jorge Enrique Hardoy summarizes as:[4].
The American Plaza Mayor then occupied the most important place and there was no city that did not have it. Even the towns created by the Jesuits with the help of the labor of the native peoples were organized around a central plaza.
Based on the Spanish and American experience, on July 13, 1573, Philip II promulgated the Ordinances of Discovery and Population, trying to homogenize planning and making clear in them the nuclear character given to the Plaza Mayor.
References
[2] ↑ Hay algún caso de plaza abierta con funciones de mercado en el mundo islámico, notablemente la Plaza Jamaa el Fna de Marrakech, designada Patrimonio de la Humanidad por la Unesco, en buena medida por la influencia de Juan Goytisolo.
[4] ↑ En la Plaza Mayor de Ávila, la del rey Enrique IV en efigie, durante la llamada farsa de Ávila. En la plaza Mayor de Madrid fue famosa la de Rodrigo Calderón, llamado el valido del valido de Felipe III, el Duque de Lerma, quien, para no morir ahorcado, se vistió de colorado, es decir, se hizo nombrar cardenal. El aplomo de Rodrigo Calderón para subir al patíbulo se hicieron legendarios, y ha pasado a ser un refrán el comparar diciendo "está más tranquilo que Don Rodrigo en la Horca".
[5] ↑ Como protesta por la subida del pan en tiempos de Juan José de Austria, apareció un pasquín en la Casa de la Panadería de la Plaza Mayor de Madrid, que decía: «A qué vino el señor don Juan: A bajar el caballo y a subir el pan» (refiriéndose a la famosa estatua ecuestre de Felipe IV, que el valido había mandado desplazar).
The first news that we have of a regular layout in a Plaza Mayor in Castilla is in the Villa de Sigüenza (Guadalajara) "Sigüenza (Guadalajara)"), the result of the efforts of the titular bishop Cardinal Pedro González de Mendoza, who commissioned different master builders to expand the public spaces around the Cathedral. To do this he followed the classical custom that he had known in Italy. Among these master builders were Juan de Talavera and Francisco de Baeza.[2].
The urban functions that the main squares fulfilled, in addition to the original market, were expanded to that of political space (with the location of municipal buildings) and space for celebrations and solemnities, such as bullfights (which ended up being associated with circular spaces made specifically instead of the original rectangular ones), auto de fe of the Inquisition (the solemn part, not the burning of the condemned, which was done in the brazier, in more discreet places), public executions of a civil scope,[n 2] without forgetting the function of a space for social conflict, since the main squares are the meeting point in case of a subsistence riot (in the Old Regime) or demonstration (in the Contemporary Age).[n 3].
In America, the main squares are planned from the layout of the cities, such as the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, the Plaza de la Independencia (Quito) "Plaza de la Independencia (Quito)") in Quito, as in the Zócalo "Plaza de la Constitución (Mexico City)") in Mexico or the Plaza de Bolívar in Bogotá, due to the demolition of previous indigenous buildings.
In 1950, Robert Ricard[3] dates the origin of the Spanish Plaza Mayor to the last decades of the century and distinguishes two types: "noble and monumental" (Madrid and Salamanca) and "modest with a vulgar air" (Burgos, Segovia, Toledo), and states that Muslim cities did not have them. He adds that in America it was “the center and symbol of the city and organism around which its life took place. It could be said, without great exaggeration, that a Latin American city is a Plaza Mayor surrounded by streets and houses, rather than a set of streets and houses around a Plaza Mayor. The American Plaza Mayor, larger than the Spanish one, was not monumental but because of the buildings that surrounded it. In addition to the municipal square, it had the presence of the Church "Church (organization)"), residence of the authorities, court and prison.
Later, different aspects emerged that differed regarding the origin of the Plaza Mayor in Spain and in America (the indigenist highlights the influence of pre-Hispanic cities as a model of the city of the conquest, and that in those there were already large ceremonial and market squares), but the truth is that the "policy of Spain turned America into a place of rehearsals between 1492 and 1573", creating a classic model of the Spanish-American colonial city that Jorge Enrique Hardoy summarizes as:[4].
The American Plaza Mayor then occupied the most important place and there was no city that did not have it. Even the towns created by the Jesuits with the help of the labor of the native peoples were organized around a central plaza.
Based on the Spanish and American experience, on July 13, 1573, Philip II promulgated the Ordinances of Discovery and Population, trying to homogenize planning and making clear in them the nuclear character given to the Plaza Mayor.
References
[2] ↑ Hay algún caso de plaza abierta con funciones de mercado en el mundo islámico, notablemente la Plaza Jamaa el Fna de Marrakech, designada Patrimonio de la Humanidad por la Unesco, en buena medida por la influencia de Juan Goytisolo.
[4] ↑ En la Plaza Mayor de Ávila, la del rey Enrique IV en efigie, durante la llamada farsa de Ávila. En la plaza Mayor de Madrid fue famosa la de Rodrigo Calderón, llamado el valido del valido de Felipe III, el Duque de Lerma, quien, para no morir ahorcado, se vistió de colorado, es decir, se hizo nombrar cardenal. El aplomo de Rodrigo Calderón para subir al patíbulo se hicieron legendarios, y ha pasado a ser un refrán el comparar diciendo "está más tranquilo que Don Rodrigo en la Horca".
[5] ↑ Como protesta por la subida del pan en tiempos de Juan José de Austria, apareció un pasquín en la Casa de la Panadería de la Plaza Mayor de Madrid, que decía: «A qué vino el señor don Juan: A bajar el caballo y a subir el pan» (refiriéndose a la famosa estatua ecuestre de Felipe IV, que el valido había mandado desplazar).