Qualla: Plaza de la Independencia

Plaza de la Independencia: Introduction

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Héctor López from Quito D.M., Ecuador, CC BY-SA 2.0. Before it was the central stage of a republic, Plaza Grande was a watering hole. In the earliest years after Quito's founding, this was simply an esplanade of packed dirt - a flat open space that happened to contain a useful water source, convenient for the neighbors fetching water for their households. For decades, no one thought of it as the heart of the city. That role belonged to what is now called Plazoleta Benalcázar, the tentative original square of the new Spanish town. Only in 1612 did the balance tip. Civic institutions had begun clustering on the larger esplanade's flanks. The city decided to call this one simply Plaza Grande - the big plaza - because it was. Four centuries later, after a republican revolution and a colonial re-dedication, it still is.

Image: Héctor López from Quito D.M., Ecuador | CC BY-SA 2.0

Plaza de la Independencia: Four Buildings and a Fountain

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Byron.calisto at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. The buildings that surround the square today all date, except for one, to the colonial period. To the southwest: the Cathedral of Quito, where the Catholic Church acquired land on the north and south sides early in the square's history and built the city's main temple. To the nor...

Image: Byron.calisto at English Wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

Plaza de la Independencia: Garden of the Royal Audience

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Photography, Scan and postprocessing by Hubertl, CC BY-SA 4.0. In the eighteenth century, someone thought of the plaza as a true European-style square for the first time. The president of the Royal Audience of Quito conceived landscaping that would serve as a formal garden for Palacio de Carondelet. The palace topped its steps directly in th...

Image: Photography, Scan and postprocessing by Hubertl | CC BY-SA 4.0

Plaza de la Independencia: The First Cry of Independence

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit DianGabi, CC BY-SA 3.0. On 10 August 1809, a group of Quito Creoles met in the house of Manuela Cañizares - one block from this plaza - and declared the overthrow of the Spanish Royal Audience. The uprising failed within days. The leaders were arrested and executed. But the date stuck in the Ecuadorian ...

Image: DianGabi | CC BY-SA 3.0

Plaza de la Independencia: A Square That Would Not Change

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bbb, CC BY-SA 3.0. Since 1906, the plaza has barely changed. The Independence Monument still rises from its center. The fountain still sits in the southwest. The four colonial facades still look onto each other across the same rectangle of light. The corners hold four more notable buildings: the hi...

Image: Bbb | CC BY-SA 3.0