The concept of place major

According to the Tesoro de la language castellana (1611), by Sebastián de Covarrubias, a place was a "wide and spacious place within the town, a public place where maintenance is sold and where neighbors and neighbors and neighbors have common attention ", a definition that has survived in the Diccionario de la language española (RAE), which also adds its function for "public festivities". 

The economic development experienced in the Hispano-Christian sphere from the 11th century onwards led to the rebirth of urban centers and the development of fairs and markets, fed by royal concessions. For their location, open and clear areas were necessary, thus giving rise to the so-called market squares in peninsular urban planning. This primitive mercantile function was gradually joined by other social uses linked to entertainment: festivities, celebrations and rejoicings, especially bullfighting shows. In the 19th century, concerts and recitals were also incorporated, for which kiosks were installed. To the utilitarian character of these spaces was added from the late fifteenth century the quality of representativeness, thanks to the construction of the town hall in that location. 

The place mayor was not generally located in the original nucleus of the city, but was the result of its expansion. Its layout could be irregular, although orderly, the result of spontaneous urban growth, but also regular, responding to a previous plan, programmed, following a model that began in our country with the place mayor of Valladolid, built in 1561 with a uniform layout and elevations. It was followed by others in the following centuries, such as Madrid, Segovia, León, Córdoba, Salamanca, Ocaña, Vitoria, San Sebastián, Bilbao or Barcelona, in baroque and neoclassical style. Both were spaces that offered a clear spatial and visual unity, with arcades on the leave and several heights in which balconies followed one another, authentic boxes for shows. In Navarre, most of the squares are irregular, except for Tudela, Larraga and Tafalla, and their names have been diverse and changing over time, as a result of their function or of certain political events.

Since their creation, the main squares, centers of sociability and civic coexistence, as well as recreational spaces and symbols of representativeness, have become the heart of the modern city.