Plaza San Martin, Lima

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Madre Patria - Symbolic mother of the nation at the bottom of the Memorial to San Martin - Lima Peru

There is an interesting story about the mother of the nation carving on the San Martin memorial. Strangely she has a small llama sitting on the top of her head. The original memorial was built in Spain as a gift for Peru's 100th anniversary of independence. She should have had a crown adorned with flames, known as a llama in Spanish. Instead she has a little Peruvian llama on her head. The double meaning of the word got lost in translation by the artist who created the image in Spain.

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Plaza San Martin is a very busy square in the heart of Lima. Our hotel was located in this plaza. The traffic runs non stop day and night making it an exciting and vibrant area with restaurants, shops, and lots to see and do. At the center of the Plaza is the equestrian monument to San Martin.

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We were staying a couple of nights at Gran Hotel Bolivar, which is located on the Plaza San Martin - so every time we were stepping out of the hotel we had the square right in front of us…

Plaza San Martin is one of the largest and most impressive squares in Lima. It was inaugurated on July 27, 1921 in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the independence of Peru. The square is named after José de San Martin (1778 to 1850), who was a hero of South American independence. There is an huge monument with a bronze statue of San Martin in the centre of the square. The monument was covered with scaffold when we visited Lima. It was not because it was being renovated, but the scaffold was a part of ‘Great Lima Week’. The idea was to give people a chance to get really close to the 16 meters high monument, and not just see the horse’s belly or the soles of the shoes!

The square is surrounded by impressive buildings like the Gran Hotel Bolívar (from 1924), the Teatro Colón (from 1914, before the construction of the square) and several other. There are a few restaurants and bars around Plaza San Martin - and especially the bar ‘Bolivarcito’ or ‘La Catedral del Pisco Sour’ was great. They served some fantastic pisco sour!

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This "plaza" the Plaza San Martín is apparently the place of choice for demonstrations as it is bigger and less restricted than the Plaza Major. It is surrounded by colonial-style buildings - hotels, a theatre, and airline offices and the like. We also saw airline offices around the main square in Trujillo so that must be a Peruvian or South American thing to have them there in the center rather than out at the airport.

The square was inaugurated in 1921 on the Centennial of Peru's Independence. There is a big equestrian monument in honor of General José de San Martín, Argentine Liberator of Peru in the center. He is supposed to be ascending the Andes. In front is a figure of a woman that I think represents liberty which was created by Catalan sculptor, don Mariano Benlluire.

Our guide said that the directions for the statue of freedom specified a crown of flames, but that in Spain (or in Catalan) the Peruvian Spanish word for flame was interpreted as the Spanish (Catalan) word for Llama. So the statue showed up with a llama on her head. The llama shows in photos 2 and 3 in closeup.

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The Plaza San Martín was built in 1921 to celebrate a century of the independance of Peru. In the center of the Plaza you can see a sculpture of military man José de San Martín. Also surrounding the square you can find important buildings such as the Teatro Colón, and the Bolivar Hotel.

At the base of the equestrian statue in PLaza San Martin is this delightful little statue of a woman with a llama on her head. The story goes the Peruvians commissioned the statue to be made in Spain. The Peruvian wanted the woman to have a crown of flames over her head. The Peruvian spanish word for flame actually means llama in Spain so the statue showed up with a llama on her head!

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Plaza San Martin is another huge square at Lima´s old city center.

Although it is surrounded by old imposing buildings, this square looked more modern, noisy and alive to me than Plaza de Armas.

A cab driver has told me that this is the preferred site for public manifestations and riots in Peru. Interesting additional info.

There is a statue in Plaza San Martin of a woman with a Llama on her head. Apparently the person who commisioned the statue asked for the statue to be built with a crown of flames but the word for flame in Spanish is the same as the word for Llama and the person who made the statue built it with a Llama instead.

Its a pretty amusing sight!!!