The heart of La Serena, with the cathedral on one side, the municipal building on another, and benches under tall palms in between. A bronze fountain in the centre by Italian-Chilean sculptor Samuel Román anchors the space; locals meet here for ice cream from one of the kiosks that ring the square.
The plaza preserves the gridded layout of the original Spanish town founded by Juan Bohón in 1544. Two indigenous uprisings burned the city to the ground in its first decade, and the present-day layout dates from its second founding in 1549 by Francisco de Aguirre.