Plaza: Difference between revisions
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'''Plaza''' is a [[Spanish language|Spanish]] word related to "field" which describes an open urban [[public space]], such as a [[city square]]. All through Spanish America, the ''plaza mayor'' of each center of administration held three closely related institutions: the [[cathedral]], the ''[[cabildo]]'' or administrative center, which might be incorporated in a wing of a governor's [[palace]], and the ''audiencia'' or law court. The plaza might be large enough to serve as a military parade ground. At times of crisis or [[fiesta]], it was the space where a large crowd might gather. Like the Italian [[piazza]], the plaza remains a center of community life that is only equalled by the market-place. |
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Most colonial cities in [[Spanish America]] were planned around a square ''[[Plaza de Armas|plaza de armas]]'', where troops could be mustered, as the name implies, surrounded by the governor's palace and the main church. |
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A ''plaza de toros'' is a [[bullfighting]] [[arena]]. |
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The Italian [[cognate]] is ''Piazza'', the French cognate ''[[Place]]''. |
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===Example=== |
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*[[Plaza de Mayo]] |
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==Shopping center== |
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The first purpose-built shopping center in the United States, opened in [[Kansas City, Missouri]] in 1922, knowingly took the name of "[[Country Club Plaza]]" and adopted Spanish architectural details. More recently ''plaza'' has been used to describe a [[shop]]ping complex, similar to a [[shopping mall]], borrowing its connotations of a center of cultural life. The name is currently even applied to a single building with some semi-public street-level areas, often with a hotel or office tower above, while ''[[mall]]'' more often refers to multiple buildings or a street. |
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Examples: [[Pantip Plaza]], [[Clinton Plaza]], [[Central Plaza, Hong Kong]], [[Schiphol]] Plaza. |
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Fictional example: [[Nakatomi Plaza]] |
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[[Category:Urban studies and planning]] |
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[[pt:Praça]] |
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