Plaza Mayor de Lima

The Plaza Mayor, also called the Plaza de Armas, is where Lima began. Francisco Pizarro founded the city here on 18 January 1535, and the square has been the centre of political and religious power ever since. It was also on this square that José de San Martín proclaimed the independence of Peru in 1821. Today it is the obvious starting point for any visit to the historic centre, which UNESCO inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1988 and extended in 1991.

The square is framed by the most important buildings of the old city. The cathedral stands on the east side next to the Archbishop's Palace, and the Government Palace, the Municipal Palace and the Palacio de la Unión complete the set. On the south side are the arcades known as the Portal de Escribanos and Portal de Botoneros, built in 1940 when the square was given a uniform neo-colonial look, with wooden balconies above the arches.

In the centre stands the fountain inaugurated on 8 September 1651 under the Count of Salvatierra, which replaced the square's first fountain, inaugurated on 21 October 1578. Jirón de la Unión, Jirón Junín, Jirón Huallaga and Jirón Carabaya all run into the square, so it is easy to find your way from here to the rest of the old town on foot. The 17th-century writer Bernabé Cobo described the plaza as filling a whole city block, with sides of more than two thousand feet in total.

The square is a public space and free to walk around. Visit the cathedral on a weekday, when its museum route is open, and then continue on foot to the San Francisco convent, at the corner of Jirón Áncash and Jirón Lampa, or to Santo Domingo on Jirón Camaná. Together they make a natural half-day walk through the core of colonial Lima.

Most visitors staying in Miraflores or Barranco come to the centre by taxi. Allow an hour for the square and its surroundings, and longer if you combine it with the cathedral and the two convents. Anyone interested in the city's history should pair the walk with Museo Larco or MALI for the wider background to what was here before 1535.