Vista aérea de la Plaza Altamira de Caracas

Altamira is a neighborhood located in the Chacao municipality of Caracas, Venezuela. It has its own

Metro Station A metro station or subway station is a station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the system in t ...

, many hotels and restaurants, and it is an important business and residential center of the city. It is also an important tourist destination and cultural center in Caracas. The

Francisco de Miranda Sebastián Francisco de Miranda y Rodríguez de Espinoza (28 March 1750 – 14 July 1816), commonly known as Francisco de Miranda (), was a Venezuelan military leader and revolutionary. Although his own plans for the independence of the Spani ...

avenue (a major avenue in Caracas) and the Distibuidor Altamira (a congested

highway exit In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, using ...

) are both located in Altamira. This neighborhood borders El Ávila National Park to the north, La Castellana neighborhood to the west,

Los Palos Grandes Los Palos Grandes is a residential, tourist and financial district located in the Chacao Municipality in east Caracas, served by the Caracas Metro through the Miranda station of line 1. It has an estimated area of 117 hectares (approximately 1.17 ...

to the east, and Bello Campo neighborhood to the south. It has an estimated area of 161

hectares The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

or approximately 1.61

square kilometers Square kilometre ( International spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or square kilometer (American spelling), symbol km2, is a multiple of the square metre, the SI unit of area or surface area. 1 km2 is equ ...

History

250px, left, Plaza Francia Altamira was created on June 30, 1577, by Juan Andres Varela. This neighborhood is currently home to Plaza Francia (though it is commonly called Plaza Altamira), a well-known landmark which includes an

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by An ...

and a fountain. This square and most of Altamira was built by Luis Roche, who owned most of the area in 1943. In 1944, Luis Roche ordered -with permission of the government- the construction of many avenues and the

square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90- degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length a ...

. Roche wanted the square's obelisk to be "higher than the Cathedral of Caracas". The square was completed by Martin Hermanos co on August 11, 1945, and was originally called Plaza Altamira. On January 17, 1967, the Venezuelan and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

governments agreed to rename Plaza Altamira to Plaza Francia (France Square in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

). The French government built a Plaza Venezuela in their country in 1975. In 1948, Luis Roche began exploring the possibility of building a tunnel between Altamira and the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexic ...

. He contacted the people who were in charge of the construction of the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between Ne ...

Tunnels, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. This project was scrapped due to its high cost as it required three tunnels, two of them used exclusively for ventilation. If built, the tunnel would have been about eight kilometers long. Luis Roche was later assigned Venezuelan

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or s ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

. Today, Altamira has its own

, many hotels and restaurants, and is an important business center in Caracas. Avenida Francisco de Miranda (a major avenue in Caracas) and the Distribuidor Altamira (a congested highway exit) are both located in Altamira. Altamira was the scene of a mass shooting on December 6, 2002.

João de Gouveia João is the Portuguese equivalent of the given name John. The diminutive is Joãozinho and the feminine is Joana. It is widespread in Portuguese-speaking countries. Notable people with the name are enumerated in the sections below. Kings * Jo ...

murdered three citizens and injured 19 participating in a demonstration in Plaza Altamira against Venezuelan president

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...

. The shooting occurred during the 2002-2003 general strike. On August 16, 2004, Plaza Francia was the scene of another incident. A group of opposition activists, protesting what they considered to be fraudulent electoral results of the Presidential Recall Referendum, were met with a hail of bullets from a group of Pro-Government supporters. One person was killed and nine wounded.

Economy

The headquarters of Estelar Airlines is in Altamira.

Education

The British School, Caracas The British School, Caracas (TBSC) is a private school in Altamira, Caracas, VenezuelaContact Us
." The British School, Caracas. ...

is in Altamira.

Culture

A world-renowned branch of the internationally acclaimed worldwide organization

Tomchei Tmimim Tomchei Tmimim ( he, תומכי תמימים, "supporters of the complete-wholesome ones") is the central Yeshiva (Talmudical academy) of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement. Founded in 1897 in the town of Lubavitch by Rabbi Sholom Do ...

Yeshiva Gedola is located in Altamira. The hub of the bajurim.

References

External links