Plaza de Armas was renamed in 1814 after 11 years of being Place d'Armes under the French for an up and coming general who is also the namesake of Mississippi's capital and appears on the 20 dollar bill. You don't need that many hints.


The French Market, America's oldest public market, has existed on the same site, originally a Native American trading post, since 1791. The Butchers' Market, or Halle des Boucheries, was designed in 1813 by city surveyor Jacques Tanesse to replace earlier buildings destroyed by hurricane and fire.


Into Jackson Square, surrounded by an also-historic wrought iron fence that dates to 1851 and was restored in 1990. Jackson is the equestrian in the background.


Back (square side) and front (street/river side) of the statue, and the famous Jackson quote below, "The Union must and shall be preserved."


Different sides of the Lower Pontalba Building, 1850. Get close enough and it loses some of the lustrous beauty, exposing its age. It's along the southwest side of the square.


Looking northwest from the corner of the square on St. Peter Street at the end of the Pontalba block.


St. Louis Cathedral is on the northwest side of the square, parallel to the waterfront and dominating the park, flanked by the Cabildo to the left and the Presbytère to the right.


Different angles of the cathedral, reconstructed in 1850 from the original 1789 church (following the fire of 1788). It's mostly just a coincidence that this is the same year as the Lower Pontalba Building, no fire or anything, although the area could have been getting developed in a coordinated manner during that time.


Another view of the Presbytère, so named because it was built on the site of an old Capuchin monastery. It housed the state Supreme Court for some time but is now a state museum.


Louisiana's first colonial government was in the Cabildo, improved in the 1930s by adding modernities such as electricity but otherwise intact. The name is Spanish because the building dates to the time of Spanish rule, named for the city council. The Cabildo also took on the Supreme Court from the Presbytère after the Civil War.

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