La Paz Monuments Tour (Self Guided), La Paz

The present memorial plaque commemorates the revolt which was on July 16, 1809 against the Governor General of the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata and it proclaims independence. In the autumn of the same year, troops loyal to the Spanish Crown concentrated near La Paz, and this is when many differences arose amongst the revolutionaries. As a result, some of them retired to the Yungas Valley, where shortly after, they were destroyed in a fierce battle. In December, Murillo was captured in the Zongo Valley - some miles away from La Paz.

In the late 19th century, the Plaza de Armas, also called the Market Square and, later, the Plaza 16 de Julio, was graced with a beautiful water fountain. Between 1890 and 1909 it was renovated, along with other sites and monuments of the city. It was called Fountain of Berengaria, after a man who went on a pilgrimage to various parts of the city. According to other sources from Neptune's Grotto of Lourdes, he arrived at the Paseo de la Alameda and finished his pilgrimage at the mound Sopocachi, where the fountain is situated today.

Gualberto Villaroel ruled Bolivia from 1943 to 1946. He was a politician with nationalistic tendencies and convictions, and a close associate of the Argentine leader Juan Peron. In 1946, a mob instigated by his opponents, made entrance to the presidential palace and then killed Villaroel. His lifeless body was hung from a lamppost near the entrance of the Palace. His monument is located in the Plaza Murillo.

In the Plaza Murillo is another bust of the Liberator Simón Bolívar. General Simón Bolívar, the Liberator, struggled to liberate New Granada, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Upper Peru. During his arduous journey he collaborated with a Bolivian military group, which believed in his ideals, and that group was called La Gran Colombia. This group later identified itself with the hero and despite some former hostilities, he became the general of Bolivia.

The Monumento La Madre Patria is also known as the symbol of the country. This bronze monument was made in 1901 by the famous French sculptor, Henry Allouard. It measures three meters high and its unusual style features the metal figure of a woman who wears a crown of laurel on her head. Laurel is the symbol of victory. She holds a sword in her hand, Currently, it is located in the middle of the water fountain which is in front of the Monje Campero cinema.

The monument of Cristoforo Colombo (Christopher Columbus), which stands in the heart of El Prado, is a work by the Italian Giuseppe Graciosa. On the white Carrara marble pedestal, which is about three meters high, passers-by can see Cristoforo Columbus holding a map and a rudder of the ship that brought him to the shores of the New World. He stands as a mute witness to the intense activity along La Paz’s main artery.