The Plaza Bolívar is a square in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. It occupies a central site, and is used for public meetings. Its origin was in the colonial period, when the city was laid out on a

grid plan In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid. Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogona ...

.(see note) Some buildings in the vicinity, such as the

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

date from the colonial period. The square was renamed after

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 ...

in the 19th century as a consequence of Venezuela's independence. The centrepiece of the square is a

monumental column A victory column, or monumental column or triumphal column, is a monument in the form of a column, erected in memory of a victorious battle, war, or revolution. The column typically stands on a base and is crowned with a victory symbol, such as a ...

. Inaugurated in 1889, the column commemorates Bolívar and specifically his victory at the

battle of Carabobo The Battle of Carabobo, on 24 June 1821, was fought between independence fighters, led by Venezuelan General Simón Bolívar, and the Royalist forces, led by Spanish Field Marshal Miguel de la Torre. Bolívar's decisive victory at Carabobo led ...

in 1821.

History

In the 1880s, when Valencia's monument to Bolivar was constructed, Venezuela was an agricultural country. Despite having large amounts of

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

, the country lacked industrial iron-making capacity.

Antonio Guzmán Blanco Antonio José Ramón de La Trinidad y María Guzmán Blanco (28 February 1829 – 28 July 1899) was a Venezuelan military leader, statesman, diplomat and politician. He was the president of Venezuela for three separate terms, from 1870 until 1 ...

, three times president of Venezuela, implemented plans to modernize infrastructure. His projects, which have been described as

megalomania Megalomania is an obsession with power and wealth, and a passion for grand schemes. Megalomania or megalomaniac may also refer to: Psychology * Narcissistic personality disorder * Grandiose delusions * Omnipotence (psychoanalysis), a stage of ...

c, had a strong impact on Valencia, the second city of the Republic. He gave a concession to a British company to build a railway between Valencia and the coast at

Puerto Cabello Puerto Cabello () is a city on the north coast of Venezuela. It is located in Carabobo State, about 210 km west of Caracas. As of 2011, the city had a population of around 182,400. The city is home to the largest and busiest port in the coun ...

. The Valencia terminus was at , 3 km from the city center, and plans were made for a tramway (initially

horse-drawn A horse-drawn vehicle is a mechanized piece of equipment pulled by one horse or by a team of horses. These vehicles typically had two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers and/or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have m ...

) to the Plaza Bolívar. Guzman Blanco also approved a railway from Valencia to Caracas, the

Great Venezuela Railway The Great Venezuela Railway (''Gran Ferrocarril de Venezuela'') was a railway from Caracas to Valencia. The railway was the longest in Venezuela. It proved difficult to recoup the initial investment and the railway became a notable cause of t ...

, built by a German company. The Valencia terminus was at San Blas, relatively near the city center. In 1887 the president decided to enhance the Plaza Bolívar of Valencia. The main feature is a marble column (called a ''monolito'' in Spanish) surmounted by a bronze statue of Bolívar. The monument was part of a national programme of promoting the memory of Bolívar begun in the 1870s,Nava, Julian. "The Illustrious American: The Development of Nationalism in Venezuela under Antonio Guzman Blanco."

The Hispanic American Historical Review ''The Hispanic American Historical Review'' is a quarterly, peer-reviewed, scholarly journal of Latin American history, the official publication of the Conference on Latin American History, the professional organization of Latin American historians ...

45, no. 4 (1965): 527-43. doi:10.2307/2511095. when, for example, Guzmán Blanco commissioned an

equestrian statue An equestrian statue is a statue of a rider mounted on a horse, from the Latin ''eques'', meaning 'knight', deriving from ''equus'', meaning 'horse'. A statue of a riderless horse is strictly an equine statue. A full-sized equestrian statue is a d ...

for the

Plaza Bolivar Plaza Bolivar may refer to: * Plaza Bolívar, Bogotá, Colombia * Plaza Bolívar, Lima, Peru *Many public squares in Venezuela including: ** Plaza Bolívar (Caracas) ** Plaza Bolívar (Valencia) {{dab ...

of Caracas and adopted the bolívar as the currency of Venezuela. Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square, London

Work on the column was endorsed by General

Hermógenes López Hermógenes López (19 April 1830, in Naguanagua, Carabobo – 17 December 1898, in Valencia, Carabobo) was a Venezuelan soldier, farmer and acting president of his country between 1887 and 1888, after the resignation of General Antonio Guzmán B ...

, governor of

Carabobo State , anthem = '' Himno del Estado Carabobo'' , image_map = Carabobo in Venezuela.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location within Venezuela , pushpin_map = , pushpin_map_ ...

, who succeeded Guzmán Blanco as president of Venezuela during a transition period in 1887/1888. It was inaugurated under a third president,

Juan Pablo Rojas Paúl Juan Pablo Rojas Paúl (26 November 1826 – 22 July 1905) was the president of Venezuela from 1888 to 1890. He was the first civilian president who was elected by constitutional procedures in 50 years, and the only one who could finish his t ...

on Carabobo Day 1889.

Design

The project was under the direction of the architect Antonio Malaussena (1853–1919). Malaussena later designed Valencia's municipal theatre (inaugurated in 1894) in

Napoleon III style Second Empire style, also known as the Napoleon III style, is a highly eclectic style of architecture and decorative arts, which uses elements of many different historical styles, and also made innovative use of modern materials, such as i ...

. The sculptor

Rafael de la Cova Rafael de la Cova ( – ) was a Venezuelan sculptor active in the second half of the 19th century. De la Cova received some important commissions, but a number have not survived to the present day. Perhaps his best known work is a monument to Chri ...

, who studied in Europe in the 1870s, is credited with

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

s depicting the battle of Carabobo at the base of the monument.

Imagery

The statue depicts Bolivar pointing south-west towards the battlefield of Carabobo, his famous victory of 1821 in the

Venezuelan War of Independence The Venezuelan War of Independence ( es, Guerra de Independencia de Venezuela, links=no, 1810–1823) was one of the Spanish American wars of independence of the early nineteenth century, when independence movements in Latin America fought agai ...

. The pedestal of the monument is adorned with the

shield A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of a ...

of the State of Carabobo and three bas-reliefs depicting scenes from the battle: * Bolívar directing his troops * the British Legion (volunteer troops who fought under Bolivar) At the corners of the pedestal are

Andean condor The Andean condor (''Vultur gryphus'') is a giant South American Cathartid vulture and is the only member of the genus ''Vultur''. Found in the Andes mountains and adjacent Pacific coasts of western South America, the Andean condor is the larg ...

Conservation

The monument is officially protected, but in 2018 ''

El Carabobeño ''El Carabobeño'' has been one of the most popular newspapers in the Central Region of Venezuela. The offices of the newspaper are located in Naguanagua, north of the city of Valencia in the state of Carabobo. Its main competitor in the area is ...

'' reported that ornamental metal-work had been removed from the structure.

Notes

:1. In 1573, King

Philip II of Spain Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...

compiled the

Laws of the Indies The Laws of the Indies ( es, Leyes de las Indias) are the entire body of laws issued by the Spanish Crown for the American and the Asian possessions of its empire. They regulated social, political, religious, and economic life in these areas. Th ...

to guide the construction and administration of colonial communities. The Laws specified a square or rectangular central plaza with eight principal streets running from the plaza's corners. Hundreds of grid-plan communities throughout the Americas were established according to this pattern, echoing the practices of earlier Indian civilizations.

References

External links

Restoration project
Instituto de Desarrollo Urbano del Centro de Valencia {{DEFAULTSORT:Plaza Bolívar (Valencia) Buildings and structures in Valencia, Venezuela Monumental columns Monuments and memorials in Venezuela Monuments to Simón Bolívar Neoclassical architecture in Venezuela Statues of Simón Bolívar in Venezuela Outdoor sculptures in Venezuela Squares in Venezuela