Jackson Square is the heart of the French Quarter and arguably the heart of New Orleans. The square was laid out in 1721 as the Place d'Armes — the military parade ground of the French colonial city — and has been the focal point of New Orleans life ever since. Andrew Jackson's equestrian statue dominates the centre, surrounded by the green lawns of the square, and beyond it rises the triple-spired St Louis Cathedral, the oldest continuously active cathedral in the United States.
The square's perimeter is defined by the 1840s Pontalba Buildings — the oldest apartment buildings in the United States, built by the Baroness Micaela de Pontalba with distinctive cast-iron lace balconies that set the template for French Quarter architecture. Street artists spread their work along the railings, fortune tellers and musicians fill the square, and the Café du Monde just across Decatur Street serves beignets and café au lait twenty-four hours a day. It is a scene that has been running more or less continuously for three centuries.