Plaza Huamanmarca, Cultural heritage square in central Huancayo, Peru.
Plaza Huamanmarca is a central square in Huancayo featuring a monument at its heart, surrounded by administrative buildings and landscaped areas planted with regional vegetation. The space connects different parts of the city and provides access to nearby markets, dining venues, and public offices.
The square predates the Inca Empire and was the first public space in Huancayo, already standing when the Spanish arrived. In 1542 Vaca de Castro ordered a church built on its eastern side; the chapel Santísima Trinidad de Huamanmarca was begun in 1580 and finished in 1619. The temple was ruined by 1861 and collapsed in the 1876 earthquake, after which the new church was raised at what became Plaza Constitución.
The name Huamanmarca combines the Quechua words huaman (falcon or eagle) and marca (town or settlement), meaning "place where falcons gather". The square was the first public space in Huancayo and hosted the early indigenous fair of the area. Since 1905 food vendors were moved to Plaza Constitución, and the square later received a fountain around the bust of Francisco Bolognesi, decorated with figures of lions and condors.
The square sits in the Centro Cívico, bordered by the Regional Government of Junín and the Provincial Municipality of Huancayo buildings, with the Loreto street offices alongside. The Paseo a los Héroes Sicaínos and the fountain around the Bolognesi bust are on the same open space. It is a paved civic plaza rather than a market, so vendors are not its main activity.
The Paseo a los Héroes Sicaínos, added after the Civic Center was inaugurated in 1969, commemorates the Sicaín heroes. The water fountain around the Francisco Bolognesi bust was later decorated with lion and condor figures. The square was declared part of Huancayo's Monumental Zone by Resolution No. 009-89-INC in 1989.
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