Unfortunately, for some decades now, we have stopped asking ourselves really simple but essential questions for our elementary understanding. Put more simply, perhaps, when we are children, we are naturally curious and want to learn... I am not a statistician, nor do I handle official figures, but common sense tells me that the vast majority of people are not able to know, at least in the countries that were conquered and influenced by Spain, (I live in Venezuela, one of those countries under Hispanic influence) developed the cities from the ‘Plazas Centrales’... (today, ‘Plaza Simon Bolivar’).
In Valencia, Carabobo, Venezuela, we have one of these historical structures. With the addition, that in 2023, all the previous infrastructure was improved in its totality. The municipality, in conjunction with the state government (whose official logo is a bat, and the governor thinks he is Batman. I'm not lying, look it up, it's true) paid for the remodelling of this monument. An emblem for all Valencians, it is only one ‘Plaza Bolivar’ out of hundreds in the country.
However, this one in particular is important, precisely because it is connected to the development and origin of the city itself (Valencia). More than 450 years ago, a Spanish conquistador ‘founded’ the capital of the state where I live (Nuestra Señora de la Anunciación de la Nueva Valencia del Rey); for friends, ‘Valencia’, to secas..... Vicente Díaz, was the person who started this journey in the 16th century, and when he did, he began by building the Cathedral of the city. The Catholic temple where it all began... From that small, horseshoe-shaped point, bordered by the Central Plaza, made of stone and earth with trees of the time and a lot of racism, the history of the 4th most important city of Venezuela began...
Notice that we are more than 250 years away from the Wars of Independence, which paid the Spanish America of caudillos and movements that, in effect, separated those ‘colonies’ from the European Empire of Spain. In Venezuela, the greatest hero of those 30 years of battle, misery and violence, who bequeathed us freedom and independence, was called Simón Bolívar. In his honour, we name our currency, we name the state with the most territory and the most wealth in materials with his surname (Bolívar) and we rename our former Central Squares, vestiges of the Colony and apex of Catholicism, as ‘Plazas Bolívar’.
As I said before, each and every one of the capitals of Venezuela has a Plaza in its capital city, in the historical and neuralgic centre of its societies. Valencia, the beloved and mistreated capital city of Carabobo, would not be the exception... Everything around the vicinity of the Plaza Bolivar is a complete mess... Rubbish, excessive noise pollution, unregulated street vendors, little police presence and children begging for food (begging). At least, that part seems to be historically intact. It happened in the Colony, it still happens in the present) are the things that precede the majesty of this important and historic Plaza.
Floors are made of red granite, a folly in terms of luxury and budget. The statue of the Liberator Simon Bolivar, points to the stage where the Battle of Carabobo was physically fought. An emblematic and mythological site of Venezuelan Independence history. It took more than 2 years to remodel it. It is not that big, either, I would say it is just over 18 metres high (the Monolith with the Liberator) and about 4.5 metres the pedestal where this much deified figure of all Venezuelans stands. Officially, and according to public records (a simple Google search is enough) the change from Plazar Mayor (Plaza Central) to Plaza Bolívar (as it is known today) began in 1899. Antonio Guzmán Blanco, dictator, caudillo and President of Venezuela at that time, was the one who inaugurated it...
To this day, we have a piece of living history that we walk through and I don't know if we are really aware of its history, or our own, even... This is my first for Architecture and Design. These photographs, far from trying to extol our republican myths, try to show how elusive knowledge is to our consciousness. So many things occupy our minds that we simply forget everything. It doesn't matter whether we are witnessing greatness or something unimportant. As I also said at the beginning of this post, when we were children we were interested in these questions (how the construction of cities began), but too much seems to fade away... So, like the mere history of this site; once the pride of the Spanish Colony, now a symbol of Liberty... Curious, isn't it?
All photographs and content used in this post are my own. Therefore, they have been used under my permission and are my property.
A great country is a country that appreciates the services of its heroes @chris-chris92
I agree but, an even greatest country is that one who keeps in its history (the whole history) and not that one forgotten by its society... I have nothing against Simón Bolívar, but I don't use patriotism trying to hide our miseries...
!discovery 40
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The monument with that statue on that column is really very beautiful. I didn't know it, never seen it before. Thanks for sharing
Undoubtedly one of the best and most emblematic squares in Venezuela, a place where I always took many photographs.
The towering statue was not easy to make. It is truly extraordinary.