The Baralt Square in Maracaibo

Called the heart of the city, this is one of the most historic places in the city.

In colonial times the water reached the banks of the convent of San Francisco, built between 1669 and 1730 and later when the area was filled in it became the city's open-air market and was called La Plazuela and the front of the church was called Plaza de San Francisco.

In 1881 the Baralt society was constituted who are responsible for the bronze statue placed at the intersection of 97th Street, called at that time Bolivar with Colon Avenue, that happened on October 24, 1888, as part of the centenary of the birth of Rafael Urdaneta highlighting the lanterns and the marble pedestal at the foot of the monument, beginning the history of the same with that name that eventually the people extended to call the entire sector that went from the square to the market.

It was the shopping and meeting place of the city and the settlement of large commercial houses, places for recreation, clubs, the first skyscraper, meeting point for the Los Haticos and El Milagro streetcar lines, the Victoria Hotel, the main market, among others.

There the inaugural promenade of the Carnival festivities was celebrated, games of cucañas, sticks and cochinos ensebados, enmochilados and diversity of games were installed and also the commemorative acts to the centenary of April 19, 1810 were carried out.

Until 1973, when the remodeling of the city center began, everything converged in this place. With the construction of the Las Pulgas Market and the fire at the Main Market and the demolition of La Marina and Los Buchones, the commercial activity attempted to be relocated and the sector was eliminated as a vehicular crossing point, transforming it into a boulevard, which was completed in 1998.

However, informal commerce continued to thrive in the surrounding area. This sector has a rich historical architectural imprint, in the same is the Convent, the building of the Botica Nueva, the first skyscraper with its two atlantes baptized by the Maracuchos Sansones, once home of Rafael Urdaneta and the Marquis of Perija, the building Las Mercedes, where the Club Alianza operated after merging the Union and Concordia clubs, The Blue Book, where the Standard Oil Company operated and later a famous restaurant, The house of the balconies as they call the Comercial Quintero building from the 19th century, the Mcgregor house building where in its corner you could read the news of the world on a blackboard and which housed the first gasoline pump, the Beco buildings from the end of the 18th century, headquarters of the commercial firm Blohm & Co. and Tito Abbo, from the mid 20th century, the Victoria hotel and the Main Market, today the Lía Bermudez Art Center.

The place was declared "Zone of Tourist Interest" in 2013 and since then a long remodeling has been started, which to date has not been completed. However, it is perhaps the most obligatory site for locals and strangers alike to visit.