The second block of the current
jirón Huancavelica was the location of one of the busiest
comedy corrals in Lima since 1614. It was built in front of the 'false door' of the
convent of San Agustín and would become the main centre of
theatrical activity in the city. It was after the
independence of Peru when a small square was opened with the purpose of enhancing the façade of the
Teatro Principal, in whose vicinity a growing audience gathered. In 1822,
José de San Martín asked the community of San Agustín to donate land to build the plaza. Shortly after, the
supreme delegate,
José Bernardo de Tagle y Portocarrero, ordered the arrangement of an elongated space that would serve as a public walk. It was initially called
September 7 Square, in memory of the landing of the
Liberating Expedition in
Paracas and the abandonment of Lima by the
royalist troops. For this reason, the first stone of a future monument to San Martín was also placed there, which never came to fruition. With the passage of time, this space would end up being called
Plazuela del Teatro or
Plazuela de la Comedia. Starting in 1846, it acquired a new appearance when the Portal de San Agustín was built in front of the theater coliseum. This configuration has essentially been maintained over time, even after the modernization of the square in the 1960s. In the mid-19th century, the city of Lima experienced a proliferation of hotels and
inns. One of the main ones was the
Hotel del Universo, located in the Portal de San Agustin located in the Plazuela del Teatro, owned by the
French citizen Estanislao Courtheoux. According to the chronicle of
Manuel Atanasio Fuentes, in the hotel there was no food or coffee service, only furnished rooms. It was in one of these rented apartments on the upper floors of the Hotel del Universo that the
National Club was initially established on October 19, 1855. Likewise, during the period of the
Peruvian civil war of 1894-1895 that faced
Nicolás de Piérola With
Cacerist troops, Piérola established his headquarters in the Plazuela del Teatro, four blocks from the
Plaza de Armas.
Monument The
Monument to César Vallejo is a
bronze monument of famous Peruvian poet and writer,
César Vallejo. The statue is the work of artist Miguel Baca Rossi, from
Chiclayo, and was inaugurated on April 15, 1983. ==References==