Plaza Mayor, Valladolid

The Plaza Mayor is a central plaza in the city of Valladolid, Spain. It is located only a few blocks away from another famous plaza, the Plaza Zorrilla.HistoryIts existence became defined in the mid-thirteenth century when the market moved from the Plaza de Santa Maria to Market Square, which since the early sixteenth century has been called Plaza Mayor. Individual unions were installed around it, as was the Convent of San Francisco, until 1499 the most important building in the vicinity. After that date, as mandated by the Catholic Monarchs it was the House of the Municipality who presided over the life of the city.After its destruction in 1561 because of a serious fire at the old Market Square and thanks to the direct intervention of Philip II, it became urbanized as a meeting place and marketplace of traders who came from all parts of the Kingdom.The reconstruction project was the work of Francisco de Salamanca, royal architect. He gave birth to the modern town square in urban planning — a milestone for Spain and the Americas that it is a great contribution of the Spanish Baroque architecture.The Plaza Mayor of Valladolid is the first great plaza in Spain, and closed with arcades, is a space intended for use as a market and as a backdrop to the public celebrations so dear to the Habsburg monarchy. It had been designed with large balconies to facilitate the viewing of the shows, and served as a model, since the seventeenth century, for many others in Spain (such as Madrid, 1617 or Salamanca, 1729) and South America, even having an impact in Italy.