SAN FRANCISCO SQUARE

Plaza de San Francisco
CARTAGENA

How to arrive

SAN FRANCISCO SQUARE
SAN FRANCISCO SQUARE
SAN FRANCISCO SQUARE
SAN FRANCISCO SQUARE
Information

The square is located in the space formerly occupied by the Convent of San Francisco, after whose disentailment the square was built in 1844. The original design of the square was by the municipal architect Carlos Mancha, but it underwent subsequent changes made by the architect Tomás Rico, both in its botany and in other technical aspects.

In 1927 the square was adorned with a statue of an illustrious Cartagena native, the actor Isidoro Maiquez. His quality and innovation in acting, and his contribution to the Spanish stage with his "Reglamento de teatros" which completely modernised the Spanish theatre scene, earned him recognition in his time from important figures, such as his great friend Francisco de Goya, who painted his portrait in 1807, which is now on display in the Prado Museum.

Photographs of the inauguration of the monument to Maiquez are preserved, in which it is curious to note that the most outstanding botanical elements of the square, its large ficus trees, did not yet exist. Other old images from the beginning of the century show the existence of pine trees, of which only one remains today, located on the corner of the square towards Campos street, which despite its greater height, goes unnoticed among the branches of the large ficus that encloses it.

Of the modernist architecture surrounding the square, the Casa Maestre stands out. The house was designed by the architect Marceliano Coquillant and is inspired by Gaudí's Casa Calvet. The central axis of the building starts from the door decorated with rococo details, passing through the large, typically modernist bay window. On the façade, the undulating decoration with plant motifs stands out, integrating all the work of the decorative arts in wrought iron, wood and glass.

The latest remodelling of the square has greatly changed its appearance, also integrating with the layout of its paving the remains of the Roman forum that lie beneath it, thus making present the entire historical period of occupation of this space as a public place, a fact commemorated by a sculpture of Augustus located in one of its corners and which is a replica of the original found in the Curia of the Roman forum.

How to Arrive?

In Cartagena

Versión accesible
Bono Turístico