---

In the vicinity of Plaza Lavalle are some of the historical, institutional and cultural sites of the City. Part of this square was located in the so-called hole of Zamudio, a vacant lot where in the 18th century there was a lagoon. One of the streams that used to run through the city, the Tercero del Medio, ran down Libertad Street and turned east into Viamonte; to cross it a bridge known as the Bridge of Sighs had been built. By 1822 an artillery park was installed, which had a weapons factory and a gunpowder deposit, taking the name of Plaza del Parque.



It took its definitive name by municipal ordinance of September 16, 1878, in memory of Juan Lavalle. Lavalle was a controversial hero of the Independence and protagonist of the civil wars, in which he was especially questioned for having shot Manuel Dorrego, one of the most tragic events in Argentine history. The very name of the square was due to the persistence of hatred between ´´unitarios´´ and ´´federales´´ generated during the internal struggles, since it was called with the name of Lavalle, to the square that existed in front of the mansion of the Dorrego family, the beautiful Miró Palace, which was located in the block currently limited by Viamonte, Libertad, Córdoba and Talcahuano streets. For decades the Dorrego family covered the windows that overlooked the square so that the column raised in memory of Lavalle could not be seen from the mansion. The palace was demolished in 1937 and that space was used to expand the square, with the current north block of it.



In 1856 the Parque Station was installed there, head of the first railway line in Argentina, in the place where the Colón Theater was later built. From there the locomotive ´´La Porteña´´ of the Western Railway of Buenos Aires left in 1856, currently in the historical museum of Luján, which linked the city of Buenos Aires, with the then city of Flores, later converted into an important neighborhood located in the geographic center of the city.

In 1867 the first merry-go-round that Buenos Aires had was installed. He came from Germany and stayed for three years. It was driven by a horse.



The square was the main stage of the Park Revolution of 1890, led by the Unión Cívica and its leader Leandro Alem against the government of President Miguel Juárez Celman. The revolutionaries took the artillery park, located on the block where the Palace of Justice was later built, and there they were surrounded by government forces, to be finally defeated, after bloody fighting in the square that left more than 300 dead. The surrender was signed in the Miró Palace, which had been the main revolutionary canton.





Lavalle Square is a green space of three blocks in the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located in the San Nicolás neighborhood, surrounded by Libertad, Lavalle, Talcahuano and Córdoba Avenue.



In the square there are several monuments and sculptures, and also centuries-old trees. Among the monuments is one in honor of Juan Lavalle. Among the centennial trees are planted some Australian agathis over 120 years old and a ceibo from Jujuy planted in 1878 by Torcuato de Alvear.

---