#history  

Shopping, cultural, living nerve center of Maracaibo. Its
proximity to the lake and the old port witnessed the growth of the city, many people passed along its sidewalks
coming from other cities and countries to build the current city.

Its beginnings are linked to the San Francisco Convent, because when the Franciscan order arrived in the port city in 1615, “it was immediately decided to build the convent to house the monks and also a church in honor of its patron saint San Francisco. In front of the church there was a large pile of land that almost automatically became a market and that allowed the sector to be turned into a large commercial area of great activity”, documents the Cultural Heritage Institute, IPC, in the Catalogue of Venezuelan Cultural Heritage relating to the Maracaibo municipality.

From being a water gate for the monks of the convent, it became known as La Plazuela del Convento,
and then Convention Square.

However, it wasn't until
October 1888 when the statue of Raphael was inaugurated
María Baralt and is given the value of the historic area of the city of Maracaibo”, according to Official Gazette No 34573 of October 15, 1990. when did it take its current name.


At the foot of the statue, Colón Street began and the trams of Los Haticos and El Milagro converged, it was the beginning of the market.
It was during the 19th century and well into the 20th century, the
must-attend site for commenting on the news,
to speak ill of the government or simply to stop
see La Vida Marabina

Image
http://www.elzulianorajao.com/noticias/plaza-baralt-de-maracaibo-zulia/  
https://steemit.com/spanish/@dicemario/la-plaza-baralt-de-maracaibo