Plaza San Martín
Plaza San Martín is where Córdoba began to take shape. In 1577, four years after the city was founded, Lieutenant Governor Lorenzo Suárez de Figueroa laid out a grid of 70 blocks and put this square in the middle. The most important buildings went on the blocks around it: you can see the cathedral on one side and, next to it, the arcades of the Cabildo, where this walk will end.
In colonial times this was the Plaza Mayor and, in fact, the only real square in town; the unbuilt plots elsewhere were simply called huecos, holes. Fairs, patron saint festivals and civic celebrations took place here, even bullfights. The first street lamps arrived in 1790, installed by the viceroy Rafael de Sobremonte, a name you will meet again at the next stop.
What you walk through today is the work of the landscape architect Carlos Thays, who replanted the square in 1901 with lapachos, tipas, magnolias and the plane trees locals call carolinos, plus a few subtropical palms. In the centre stands the bronze equestrian statue of José de San Martín, there since 1916, its base wrapped in bronze reliefs of his liberation campaigns. Look out for the votive lamp and the small octagonal pond, which sometimes holds red fish.
The square measures roughly 102 by 115 metres and is free and open around the clock, so it works as a starting point at any hour. From here the Sobremonte house is just 320 metres away, a four minute walk.
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