PLAZA MAYOR

The plaza mayor is the nerve center of Trujillo, where all the roads converge. It is an architectural space of renaissance style, of great beauty and with a less austere aspect than the one in Caceres. The noble houses, generally less old (most of them dating from the 16th and 17th centuries), are lightened here with arcades, loggias or corner windows. The Plaza Mayor, original for its irregular layout, its successive plans connected by wide staircases and the great variety of noble houses that line it, is evocative of an ancient way of life that can be discovered by walking around it: "portal del lienzo" (canvas) "portal del pan"... In its center, we can admire the bronze equestrian statue of Pizarro (1927), conqueror of Peru. The Gothic church of St. Martin de Tours, from the 14th and 16th centuries, the Palacio de los Duques de San Carlos (17th century), now a convent of cloistered nuns, the Palacio del Marques de Piedras Albas, the Palacio del Marques de la Conquista, built by Hernando Pizarro, the brother of the conquistador; the Casa de las Cadenas, whose chains are said to have been deposited by Christians freed from the Moors, a chain that hangs over the lintel; the Torre del Alfiler (Tower of the Needle), with its superb Mudejar bell tower, occupied by a stork of course, or the Palacio Vargas-Carvajal and its corner balcony with two eagles. Magnificent during the day, this square also benefits from a very beautiful night illumination. A magnificent show.