Plaza Independencia
You start in the middle of Montevideo's main square, right where the old fortified city ends and the modern one begins. Around you stand buildings this walk comes back to: the tower of Palacio Salvo and the Teatro Solís, along with the Estévez Palace and the Executive Tower. The square has long been the stage for big political demonstrations and official ceremonies, so if you find a crowd or a parade here, you are seeing it used exactly as intended.
The ground under your feet once held the Citadel of Montevideo. After independence the colonial walls came down, the city spilled outward, and in 1837 the Ciudad Nueva, the New City, was planned. Architect Carlo Zucchi drew this square, reportedly with the Rue de Rivoli in Paris in mind. In the 19th century the Estévez Palace, then the seat of government, gave the square its national weight.
For decades the square itself stayed largely bare. Only at the start of the 20th century did French landscape architect Carlos Thays lay out four French-style parterres with fountains and plant his trademark palms. They are symbolic: they stand for the Thirty-Three Orientals, the leaders of the 1825 expedition that began Uruguay's fight for independence.
In the centre rises General José Gervasio Artigas on horseback, a 17-metre bronze on a granite base by sculptor Angelo Zanelli, unveiled in 1923 under President Baltasar Brum. Walk 40 metres to the foot of the monument: the national hero himself rests directly underneath.


























