thumb|right|300px|The [LINK: [Plaza] Mayor of Valladolid|plaza mayor of Valladolid, Spain, a prototypical Spanish plaza] , 1943]] Plaza (IPA or ) is a 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. Most colonial cities in Spanish America were planned around a square plaza de armas, where tr

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