Plaza Baquedano, commonly known as Plaza Italia, is a major landmark in

Santiago, Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital (political), capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated Regions of Chile, region, t ...

. The plaza was inaugurated in 1928, being crowned by a monument made by Chilean sculptor Virgínio Arias and featuring General Manuel Baquedano, giving the current name to the urban landmark. It is located where formerly the

Mapocho River The River Mapocho ( es, Río Mapocho) (Mapudungun: ''Mapu chuco'', "water that penetrates the land") is a river in Chile. It flows from its source in the Andes mountains onto the west and divides Chile's capital Santiago in two. Course The Mapoc ...

used to fork. The oval-shaped plaza is the focal point of celebrations and riots in the city. The area also serves as a hub for Santiago's

street network A street network is a system of interconnecting lines and points (called ''edges'' and ''nodes'' in network science) that represent a system of streets or roads for a given area. A street network provides the foundation for network analysis; for exa ...

. Some of the main streets of Santiago intersect in the area, including Providencia Avenue, Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Avenue (best known as Alameda) and Vicuña Mackenna Avenue. A tunnel entrance to the Costanera Norte Highway is close to Plaza Baquedano.

Parque Forestal Parque Forestal is an urban park in the city of Santiago, Chile. The park was created on reclaimed land from the Mapocho River and is located in the historical downtown of Santiago, west of Plaza Baquedano and east of Estación Mapocho. It is bo ...

Balmaceda Park Balmaceda Park is an urban park along the Mapocho River in Providencia, Santiago de Chile. It was originally created under the name of Parque Japonés (Japanese Park) in 1930. When Chile joined the Allies during the World War II, its name was ch ...

and Bustamante Park converge here.

History

It was established in 1875 as Plaza La Serena and adopted its current name in 1928 to honor Manuel Baquedano. It was originally a

traffic circle A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford E ...

but its geometric design and functionality have changed since then. Baquedano metro station is named after Plaza Baquedano. In the context of the 2019–2021 protests, the protesters dubbed the square as Plaza de la Dignidad (Dignity Square). On March 12, 2021, the four-ton statue of General Baquedano was removed to be restored by the National Council of Monuments, after continuous acts of vandalism by protesters. Attempts to burn and tear down the statue were made on March 5 and 8 respectively, ultimately prompting the authorities to make the decision.

References

{{coord, 33, 26, 13.20, S, 70, 38, 3.88, W, type:landmark, display=title Squares in Chile Tourist attractions in Santiago, Chile 2019–2020 Chilean protests