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The grid
Pedro de Gamboa designed the square grid of Santiago in 1541
The Plaza de Armas is the main square of Santiago and the centre of its first layout, a square grid. Pedro de Valdivia appointed Pedro de Gamboa in 1541. A central square was planned with the main administrative buildings around it.
Below
Evidence from 1976 points to an Inca settlement under the square
In 1976 Rubén Stehberg of the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural and Gonzalo Sotomayor of the Universidad Andrés Bello argued that an old Inca settlement lies under the old city. The plaza was erected above the old Cancha inca.
Post office
The Central Post Office stands on the site given to Pedro de Valdivia
The Central Post Office occupies the site assigned to Pedro de Valdivia. The governors' residence, and after independence the presidents' residence, stood there until 1846. A fire almost completely destroyed the building, and it was restored in 1881.
Monument
A marble monument to freedom replaced a bronze fountain from 1671
At the centre stands a Carrara marble allegory of Freedom by Francesco Orselino: a woman breaking the chains of a native woman. It replaced a bronze fountain made in 1671, which is now in La Moneda Palace.
Day 1, morning
Next is Metropolitan Cathedral of Santiago.
More stories from this trip idea
The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Plaza de Armas (Santiago), and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.