Plaza Mayor, space and representation

Plaza Mayor, space and representation

Cities have an organic geometry that fascinates me. They are the physical sedimentation of life. The material result of continuous dynamism. The mollusc produces the shell. Man produces the house. The village produces the city. If we want to understand what we see, what stands imposingly before us, we must recover its genealogy, the meticulous actions, desires and hopes that gave birth to it. The world of culture then regains a depth of meaning. Today I want to outline the genealogy of the “plaza mayor”. Which one? All of them, although the occasion is provided by this book, which celebrates the construction of the beautiful Plaza Mayor in Salamanca. The “plaza mayor” is a “cultural universal”, an urban constant found in all latitudes. People come together to live better. A continuous and abundant flow of experiences, interactions and needs then emerges, which becomes visible in temples, houses, monuments and spaces. Function creates form. In the centre of cities, like a welcoming reservoir where all rivers flow, we find the Plaza Mayor. Citizens need to meet for various purposes, to exchange goods, entertainment or information. Democracy was born in the public square, in the agora, a place of meeting and debate. José Antonio Marina. ‘The main square’.