Plaza Bolívar, Lima

A dignified square in central Lima fronting the Legislative Palace where the national congress meets, this plaza honors the liberator Simón Bolívar with a bronze equestrian statue at its heart. Laid out in the nineteenth century, it occupies the site of a former Inquisition tribunal, now a museum on its edge. Palm trees and iron benches surround the monument, and the square serves as a backdrop to political events and protests. Its position among government buildings makes it one of the capital's principal civic and institutional spaces.