The Plaza de Hurtado de Mendoza

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Squares, streets & markets

At the turn of the century, the little old square now known as Plaza de Hurtado de Mendoza, regained its former city status, the same concerns that led to its original layout at the beginning of the 19th century. Its ample area looked out southwards over the Guiniguada ravine, making it a natural landmark at Christmas 1815 following the opening of the "stone bridge" or "Verdugo bridge", giving the square its nickname of "little square by the bridge". This new bridge was a solid ashlar stone construction with three vaults, designed by sculptor José Luján Pérez, which lasted for many years before being replaced by the last concrete and iron bridge in 1927, itself demolished to make way for the present day main road up to Tafira" [...]

The little old square has always been a place for the older generations to get together for a natter, a play area for children and noisier youths, all in a mixture of languages. Since its inception as a city square, it had been a bygone meeting place for neighbours and any others who came down from the middle of the island, not forgetting fiestas and other civic events or military parades. Nevertheless, despite its constant use, it had to wait nearly half a century to be properly paved, thanks to a popular whip round in 1855. [...]

The two hundred year old square is on the cusp of the districts of Trian and Vegueta, and has been a variety of names throughout its history, some of them official, while others are more popular, some more fortunate while others have gone virtually unnoticed. It has been called the Plaza del Príncipe Alfonso, given to it in 1880, to be survived by the Plazuela de la Democracia during the first Spanish Republic through to present times, alongside its official name of Plaza de Hurtado de Mendoza. Mayor D. Ambrosio, between 1904 and 1909, had the city modernised and embellished on several occasions, including refurbishment works on this square undertaken by Laureano Arroyo. Its popular name of Plazuela de las Ranas, or little frog square, came about with the arrival of green batrachian sculptures that were place there, as part of the area's first proper overhaul in 1908, by a pear-shaped fountain and pool with ducks, swans and the odd pelican, surrounded by elegant landscaped gardens with laurel trees, palm trees, acacias and other bushes, and which today, following the latest recent refurbishment, remind us of these in the shape of huge modern frog sculptures. [...]

28.102196, -15.415572