Landmarks of Caracas
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Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...
is the capital and largest city of Venezuela.


Paseo Los Próceres

The
Paseo Los Próceres The Paseo Los Próceres (translatable into English as ''Walkway of the Heroes'') is a monument located in the Venezuelan city of Caracas, near Fort Tiuna and the Military Academy of the Bolivarian Army. On the promenade there are statues of th ...
is a monument located near Fort Tiuna and the Military Academy of the Bolivarian Army. On the promenade there are statues of the heroes of the Independence of Venezuela, as well as symbolic sculptures.


Federal Capitol

The Federal Capitol occupies an entire
city block A city block, residential block, urban block, or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design. A city block is the smallest group of buildings that is surrounded by streets, not counting any type of thoroughfare within t ...
, and, with its golden domes and neoclassical pediments, can seem even bigger. The building was commissioned by Antonio Guzmán Blanco and was built between 1872 and 1877, and is most famous for its Salón Elíptico, an oval hall with a mural-covered dome and walls lined with portraits of the country's great and good. The nearby
Palacio Municipal de Caracas The Palacio Municipal de Caracas, or Consejo Municipal de Caracas, is the Seat of local government, city hall of Caracas, Venezuela. It is located on the corner of Gradillas a Monjas opposite the Plaza Bolívar de Caracas, Plaza Bolívar, occupyin ...
dating from 1696 was renovated in the Neoclassical style in 1906 and now serves as the city hall and the Caracas Museum.


East Park

The Caracas East Park (''
Parque del Este Parque del Este ("East Park"), renamed as officially Generalissimo Francisco de Miranda Park by Chávez, in honor of the Venezuelan national hero, is a public recreation park located in the Sucre Municipality of Metropolitan Caracas in Venezuela. ...
'', now officially ''Parque Generalísimo Francisco de Miranda'') was designed by Brazilian architect Roberto Burle Marx. It is a green paradise in the middle of the city, and it contains a small zoo. A replica of the ship led by
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 ...
, the ''Leander'', is in the southern part of the park. Before there used to exist a replica of the Santa Maria ship, used by Christopher Columbus in his voyages to America.


Teresa Carreño Cultural Complex

The Teresa Carreño Cultural Complex (''Complejo Cultural Teresa Carreño'') is by far the most important theater of Caracas and Venezuela. The theater presents symphonic and popular concerts, operas, ballet, and dramatic works. It is the second largest theater in South America, after the Teatro Colón of Buenos Aires, Argentina.


Simón Bolívar's Birthplace Home

Skyscrapers may loom overhead, but there is more than a hint of original colonial flavor in this neatly proportioned reconstruction of the house where
Simón Bolívar Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24 July 1783 – 17 December 1830) was a Venezuelan military and political leader who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and B ...
was born on 24 July 1783. The museum's exhibits include period weapons, banners and uniforms. Much of the original colonial interior has been replaced by monumental paintings of battle scenes, but more personal
relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...
s can be seen in the nearby Bolivarian museum. The pride of the place goes to the coffin in which Bolívar's remains were brought from
Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
; his ashes now rest in the National Pantheon.


National Pantheon

Venezuela's most venerated building is five blocks north of Plaza Bolívar, on the northern edge of the old town. Formerly a church, the building was given its new purpose as the final resting place for eminent Venezuelans by Antonio Guzmán Blanco in 1874.


Parque Central Complex

At a short distance east of Plaza Bolívar is Parque Central, a concrete complex of five high-rise residential slabs of somewhat apocalyptic-appearing architecture, crowned by two 56-storey octagonal towers, one of them is under repair due to the fire which burnt the building on 17 October 2004. Parque Central is Caracas' art and culture hub, with museums, cinemas and the Teresa Carreño Cultural Complex. The West Tower balcony, on the 52nd floor, gives a 360° bird's-eye view of Caracas.


Public squares

*''Plaza Bolívar'' is the focus of the old town with the monument to ''El Libertador'', Simón Bolívar, at its heart. Modern high-rise buildings have overpowered much of the colonial flavor of Caracas' founding neighbourhood. *''Plaza Venezuela'' is the geographic center of Caracas. It is a large urban plaza at the entrance of the Central University of Venezuela. Kinetic artists have displayed their works there, including
Carlos Cruz-Diez Carlos Cruz-Diez (17 August 1923 – 27 July 2019) was a Venezuelan artist said by some scholars to have been "one of the greatest artistic innovators of the 20th century." Exhibitions * ''Physichromies de Cruz-Diez: Oeuvres de 1954 à 1965' ...
,
Alejandro Otero Alejandro Otero (El Manteco, Bolívar, March 7, 1921 — Caracas, August 13, 1990) was a Venezuelan painter of Geometric abstraction, a sculptor, a writer and a cultural promoter. He was a founding member of the Los Disidentes group. Early lif ...
and Jesus Soto. East of the Plaza is the Plaza Venezuela Fountain, a large computerized display of water, music and colored light refurbished in 2009 to include the latest available technology. *''Plaza Caracas'' was constructed in 1983. It is in the Simón Bolívar Center. *''Plaza San Jacinto'' dates to 1603 and used to be the site of the city market *''Plaza Los Palos Grandes'' is a modern construction located at the municipality of Chacao. It has a display of water and a beautiful coffee shop. this plaza is the center of free yoga lessons for all the people that want to enjoy the city outdoors. It also has its own library.


El Hatillo

El Hatillo is a neighborhood which was previously a
colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 a ...
town, that is located in the south-east of Caracas in the municipal area of the same name. This small area, which is one of Venezuela's few well-preserved typical colonial areas, gives an idea of what Caracas was like in centuries past.


Cerro El Ávila

''Cerro El Ávila'' (El Ávila mountain) (Indigenous name: Waraira Repano), is a mountain bordering Caracas. It rises next to Caracas, separating the city from the Caribbean Sea. The area's highest elevation is Pico Naiguatá, at above sea level. It is considered the lungs of Caracas due to the amount of vegetation on the mountain.


Las Mercedes

This zone contains restaurants with varied gastronomical specialties, along with pubs, bars, pools and art galleries.


Altamira neighborhood

Altamira is a neighborhood in the Chacao municipality of Caracas. It has its own Metro Station, many hotels, malls and restaurants, and is an important business and cultural centre. 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 in Altamira.


Religious buildings

The
Iglesia de San Francisco Church of San Francisco or ''Iglesia de San Francisco'' (most often dedicated to St Francis of Assisi, in Spanish: ''San Francisco de Assisi'') may refer to: Chile * Church of San Francisco, Castro * Iglesia de San Francisco (Chiu Chiu) * Iglesia ...
is of historical value. Bolívar's funeral was held here twelve years after his death. Here he was proclaimed '' Libertador'' in 1813 by the people of Caracas. The church has gilded
baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
altarpieces, and retains much of its original colonial interior, despite being given a treatment in the 19th century under the auspices of Antonio Guzmán Blanco, which was intended to be modernizing. It contains some 17th-century masterpieces of art, carvings, sculptures and oil paintings. The Central University of Venezuela, established during the reign of
Philip V Philip V may refer to: * Philip V of Macedon (221–179 BC) * Philip V of France (1293–1322) * Philip II of Spain, also Philip V, Duke of Burgundy (1526–1598) * Philip V of Spain Philip V ( es, Felipe; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was ...
, was lodged for centuries in the church cloisters next door, which today are the seat of the Language Academy, and the Academies of History, Physics, and Mathematics.
Caracas Cathedral The Caracas Cathedral or Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Anne is the seat of the Roman Catholic Metropolitan archdiocese of Caracas, located on the Plaza Bolívar in Caracas, Venezuela. Its chapel of the Holy Trinity is the burial site of the pa ...
is the seat of the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Caracas The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Caracas is the Latin an ecclesiastical territory of the Roman Catholic Church in part of Venezuela. It was founded as the Diocese of Caracas on June 20, 1637, and was later elevated to the rank of a Metropolitan ...
.
Basilica of St. Teresa The Basilica of St. Teresa ( es, Basílica de Santa Teresa) It is one of the most important Catholic churches in Caracas, capital of Venezuela. It is the main center of veneration of the image of the Nazarene in San Pablo Easter, is located on the ...
is designated a National Historic Landmark. The Mosque of Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Ibrahim is the second largest mosque in Latin America. For many years it was the biggest.The New York Times/ The Union Israelita de Caracas is the biggest Synagogue for the Jewish Ashkenazi community in Caracas. Its mission is to host the religious services and preserve the memory of the Jewish heritage in Venezuela. Similarly, Los Caobos the biggest Synagogue for the Jewish Sephardic community in Caracas.


References

{{Caracas
Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...
Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...
Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...