Groups in shade at Plaza de Armas.
Plaza de Armas is easily one of the most intriguing and exciting spaces I encountered in Santiago. I’ve never experienced a space that so embodied the feel of a true urban watering hole. There is an air of calm lounging in the shade of a planter or a palm with your friends, slowly watching groups mingle and stroll. At the same time, an ever-present air of impending action floats through the bright square; you always feel on your guard. That blend of feelings was invigorating.
I think it’s bound up in two main things: the plaza’s historical context, and its placement as a hub between wildly different kinds of spaces. Historically the space has been a hub of social and political action. Even through several major overhauls to the Park’s design in the last two centuries, through colonial, communist, and totalitarian regimes, the park has remained the first place for protest. While watching historical footage in the Museo de Memoria I witnessed a student protester being beaten to death by Pinochet officers. Then I heard a cathedral bell, and slowly understood that he was lying near the edge of Plaza de Armas. That blew me away, realizing the bloodshed and the chaos such a peaceful place had seen, where children splashed their hands in a fountain while church congregations sang their hymns.
The Plaza is also located at the junction of two of the most different spaces I visited while in the city. When our group first visited the plaza, we approached it by descending what I would call the “political power hill” of Santiago. This is an imaginary hill that centers on La Moneda Presidential Palace, and rings outward across downtown over seats of less- and less-direct power, the Nueva York and Paris Y Londres sitting closer to this imaginary cerro’s peak.
Plaza de Armas is located about halfway down this hill. The bottom lies at Mercado Central, perhaps most opposite La Moneda in tone, formality, and direct power that is possible. On Saturday, our small group approached the plaza from this end; climbing the hill. Here we see the informal energy of democratic mass and sociopolitical poverty that extends all the way to Plaza de Armas. It is the other half of the brilliant mix of people that fill its shaded spots and crisscross the square.
So the plaza stands at the threshold of two worlds, two times, and two classes. This hub is the physical center of a symbolic power gradient at the heart of Santiago. Like a tuned string, it is this tension that give Plaza de Armas it’s beautiful ability for both repose and revolution.