PLAZA MAYOR

It currently keeps its unmistakable arcades and half-floor houses. Furthermore, the square still houses the street market while bars and nightclubs have sprung in the arcades. During the summer time and festivals the place and its bars and café’s terraces are very busy. La Plaza Mayor also becomes the location for several outdoor events. A parking lot was built underneath the square.

Among the square’s buildings, the “Mirador de la Ciudad” stands out, known as Old Council Building (“Antiguo Consistorio” or “Consistorio Viejo”). It was built between 1674 and 1677 by Simón de Vayas, Francisco del Piñal and Pedro del Hoyo in en emerging Baroque style, and it is the typical small palace, towered with spires in the opposite ends. It replaced the Casa de la Panadería (“Bakery House”) and it has had multiple purposes: box seat for the mayors appointed by the king at the bullfights, municipal court, police quarters and cultural center. It has a double-bell clock placed there in 1827. Today it houses the Escuela de Artes Plásticas (School of Visual Arts) from the Council of León, and also the Junta de Cofradías de Semana Santa (“Board of Holy Week Brotherhoods”). Being the box seat for the authority, its attention grows during the Holy Week-Easter events in the city: the processions, especially “El Encuentro” in the morning of Good Friday.