SQUARE

Victoria Square
This square is surrounded by the Cathedral, the Severin Library, the Simon Bolivar square and the Naval Club. For over 200 years this has been a public area, with beautiful boulevards decorated with immense trees. It is at the very heart of the city, and several activities are concentrated there, as it is considered to be Valparaiso's social centre. Four female statues stand on the corners of the square, representing the seasons of the year together with two statues of lions that belonged to the Teatro de la Victoria.

Sotomayor Square
A typically Protected Area since 1979, it is located facing Muelle Prat (where one can observe the incessant activity of the port) and the Estacion Puerto (Port Station) of the railway. Its main attraction is the Monument to the Heroes of Iquique, showing the statue of Arturo Prat, who was killed while taking a Peruvian Navy ship during the Pacific War. The artwork has a stone base imported from Italy and, in its central portion, honours the courage of the Chilean sailors who lost their lives in Iquique (21/5/1879).

Sotomayor Sq. is surrounded by important buildings like the Comandancia en Jefe de la Armada de Chile y Primera Zona Naval, Compaņia de Bomberos and that of the Empresa Sudamericana de Vapores.

Anibal Pinto Square
Its narrow alleyways and the singular harmony between its old and new buildings, as well as the Neptune's Fountain, placed at its mid-point in 1892, were the reasons it was named as a "Typical" Area. From of this square - known previously as Del Orden- one can begin the climb of Mts. Concepcion and Alegre or visit the shops that surround it like Klickmann's Jewelry Shop and the Riquet coffee shop.

Echaurren Square
It is Valparaiso's main square. Its origin is colonial, and the central pillar was built after the establishment of the city's first cabildo (neighbours government) in 1789. It was called Municipal Sq in the 19th century, but it later received the name of Francisco Echaurren Square, after one of the city's main urban improvers. The square is surrounded by old buildings, such as the Mercado del Puerto (Port Market), the Iglesia De La Matriz, the Acensor Cordillera and a series of typical local businesses.

O'Higgins Square
This is the ideal place for those who seek strange items from old days, because it is the site of the traditional La Merced flea-market of books and antiques, full of items such as sea chests, mirrors and early gramophones, among other relics of olden days.
In this square, located between Pedro Montt and Uruguay avenues, stands the monument to Bernardo O´Higgins, Chile's liberator; other points of interest are the Teatro Municipal de Valparaiso, the Terminal Rodoviario (the overland bus terminal) and the National Congress Building where one of South America's tallest sculptures (if not the tallest) is located: this is "La Participacion", representing a 12 meter tall human couple. This work is by the Chilean artist Roberto Polhammer, and was inaugurated in 1933.

Wheelwright Square
This Square is called after Guillermo Wheelwright (1798-1873), an engineer who help in the modernization of the country by introducing steamships, the telegraph and the railway. The square, inaugurated on February 12, 1877, is the crossing-point of Antonio Varas, Errazuriz, Cochrane, Blanco, Bustamante and Subida Carampangue Streets. Around it lie the buildings of the old Customs House, the port of Valparaiso and the Ascensor Artilleria.