Plaza Mayor, Spanish Baroque square in central Salamanca, Spain.

Plaza Mayor is a large stone-arcaded square in central Salamanca, Spain, surrounded by uniform three-story buildings on all sides. The arcades create a continuous covered walkway around the perimeter, with balconies overlooking the open central space used for gathering and leisure.

This square was founded in the late 1720s as an urban center and gradually completed over several decades by different architects. The design grew from royal urban planning efforts that sought to modernize the city through orderly public spaces.

The medallions between the arches show busts: Spanish kings on the Pabellón Real, and figures such as Christopher Columbus, Miguel de Cervantes, Miguel de Unamuno and the Catholic Monarchs on the other wings. The oldest café in the city, Café Novelty, opened in 1905 and has long been a meeting point for Salamanca's writers and artists.

The square is fully pedestrian, entered through six street openings, among them Calle del Toro to the northeast and Calle de Zamora to the north. Its floor is laid with grey granite tiles marked by pink granite bands, quarried at Carbellino in Zamora province. The arcades shelter bars, terraces and shops, and the café Novelty, open since 1905, sits under the arcades.

The two towers planned for the city hall were never built: Andrés García de Quiñones feared the structure could not bear their weight, and only the 1745 model survives. He reused that tower design to finish the towers of La Clerecía.