The Plaza Bolivar is also known under the name Plaza de la Inquisiciòn and Plaza del Congreso. The plaza has seen a lot of Limas history. The original site was until 1949, when the Av. Abancay was extended and the plaza reconstructed, much bigger and housed during Colonial times the Iglesia de Santa Maria de La Caridad (a charity for the poor including a hospital), the old University of San Marcos, the Santo Tribunal of the Inquisition and many beautiful colonial buildings. It housed as well a market and was quite neglected until the Congreso del Peru was constructed on the place of the old University of San Marcos...

In 1859 a bronze monument of ‘El Libertador Simon Bolivar’, the leader of many independence movements throughout Latin America, was erected in his honour. Today this small but beautiful plaza is fenced and only to be visited during a guided tour through the Congress of Peru.