Parque de Santa Lucía: Mérida’s Historic Plaza

An Anchor of Historic Mérida

Parque de Santa Lucía is a prominent public square situated at the corner of Calle 60 and Calle 55 in Mérida’s Centro Histórico. Positioned along the city's central pedestrian corridor connecting the colonial Plaza Grande with the grand boulevard of Paseo de Montejo, the plaza is paved with 19th-century English brick and framed along its northern and western perimeters by historic stone arcades (portales). Protected as part of Mérida’s Federal Zone of Historical Monuments by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) since 1982, the square stands directly opposite the historic Iglesia de Santa Lucía.

Colonial Origins and Unmarked History

The plaza was first laid out in 1542 at the edge of the Spanish street grid during the foundation of Mérida. Between 1565 and 1575, encomendero Pedro García promoted the construction of the Iglesia de Santa Lucía to provide religious sacraments specifically for the city's enslaved African and Afro-descendant community, who were prohibited from worshipping inside the main Cathedral.

From the late 16th century until 1821, the church atrium and the surrounding open grounds served as Mérida's primary municipal cemetery, receiving the burials of enslaved people and ordinary citizens alike. When the cemetery closed in 1821, the graves were never exhumed. As a result, the modern plaza grounds sit directly above centuries of unexcavated colonial burials.

Neglect, Reconstruction, and Transformation

Following long periods of colonial neglect during which the site degenerated into an open waste ground, Governor Benito Pérez Valdelomar decreed the square's rehabilitation in 1804. The covered stone arcades bordering the plaza were completed decades later, in 1873. Originally constructed to stable horses and provide overnight shelter for wagons and carriages, these portales eventually became integral architectural features of the plaza.

The renovated space reopened in 1878 under the name Parque de la Unión and was later officially designated Parque de los Héroes before ultimately reverting to its traditional name, Parque de Santa Lucía.

The Home of the Serenata Yucateca

On January 14, 1965, municipal cultural director Luis Pérez Sabido established Parque de Santa Lucía as the dedicated home of the Serenata Yucateca. Held continuously since that year, this free open-air concert takes place every Thursday at 9:00 PM.

The performance serves as a celebration of regional folklore, featuring live trova yucateca guitar trios, recitations of local poetry, and humorous rhyming verses called bombas. Folk dancers dressed in traditional mestizo attire—including embroidered ternos and linen guayaberas—perform traditional jarana steps, with the synchronized tapping of their wooden dancing clogs resounding across the plaza stage.

Modern Dining and Public Life

Today, Parque de Santa Lucía functions as a central culinary and recreational gathering space. The historic 19th-century arcades now shelter open-air restaurant seating that extends across the plaza's perimeter, shaded by mature trees such as guayas.

The square is accented by memorial busts of famous Yucatecan composers and a stone obelisk dedicated to Colonel Sebastián Molas Virgilio. It also features giant white sillas confidentes (also known as tú y yo chairs), designed in an interlocking S-shape that allows two seated individuals to face one another. In addition to the Thursday serenades, the plaza hosts daytime Sunday cultural gatherings and serves as a rest point for participants during Mérida's weekly Bici-Ruta.