Plaza
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{{For|the hotel in New York City|Plaza Hotel}}
{{Wiktionary}}
[[Image:Valladolid-plaza.jpg|thumb|right|The ''[[Plaza Mayor of Valladolid|plaza mayor]]'' of [[Valladolid]], [[Spain]], a prototypical Spanish plaza.]]
[[Image:Plaza Mayor Madrid.jpg|thumb|right|The ''[[Plaza Mayor of Madrid|plaza mayor]]'' of [[Madrid]] in its dense urban setting.]]
'''Plaza''' ({{IPA-es|ˈplaθa}}) is a [[Spanish language|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|plaza de armas]]'', where troops could be mustered, as the name implies, surrounded by the governor's palace and the main church.
A ''plaza de toros'' is a [[bullring]].
The Italian [[cognate]] is ''[[Piazza]]'', the Portuguese ''[[Praça]]'', the French ''Place'', the Romanian ''Piața'' and the German ''Platz''.
===Examples===
*[[Plaza Mayor of Madrid]]
*[[Plaza Mayor of Valladolid]]
*[[Plaza de Mayo]]
*[[Zócalo]]
==Shopping center==
The first purpose-built shopping center in the United States, opened in [[Kansas City, Missouri]] in [[1922]], knowingly took the name of "[[Country Club Plaza]]" and adopted Spanish architectural details. More recently ''plaza'' has been used to describe a [[Retailing#Shops and Stores|shopping complex]], similar to a [[shopping mall]], borrowing its connotations of a center of cultural life. The name is currently even applied to a single building with some semi-public street-level areas, often with a hotel or office tower above, while ''mall'' more often refers to multiple buildings or a street.
Examples: [[Pantip Plaza]], [[Clinton Plaza]], [[Plaza Las Américas]], [[Central Plaza, Hong Kong]], [[Schiphol]] Plaza, [[The Plaza (mall)|The Plaza]].
Fictional example: [[Nakatomi Plaza]] (in real life, [[Fox Plaza]]).
[[Category:Town squares]]
[[Category:Spanish loanwords]]
[[es:Plaza]]
[[fr:Place (voie)]]
[[id:Plaza]]
[[ja:プラザ]]
[[pt:Praça]]
[[simple:Plaza]]