Plaza Murillo

Prominent buildings on the plaza include the Presidential Palace, National Congress of Bolivia, and the Cathedral of La Paz (or more formally, the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, La Paz).

[2] The plaza was designed in 1558 as part of the rectilinear grid of La Paz by Juan Gutiérrez Paniagua, who was appointed by Corregidor Ignacio de Aranda, to order the city on the north bank of the Choqueyapu River.

This region of the city was opposite the existing Spanish settlement, which had numbered about 200 Spaniards with some 5,000 tributary indigenous residents.

[3] The plaza has been a key site for battles for political power in Bolivia.

[4] Independence era leaders Pedro Domingo Murillo, Juan Antonio Figueroa, Basilio Catacora, Buenaventura Bueno, Melchor Jiménez, Mariano Graneros, Apolinar Jaén, Gregorio García Lanza, Juan Bautista Sagárnaga, Juan Cordero and Simona Manzaneda were all killed on or near the plaza.