Plaza del Seis de Agosto

Plaza del Seis de Agosto is a square in the Centro district of Gijón, located between calle Corrida, the paseo de Begoña and plaza Europa. Its name recalls 6 August 1811, the date on which Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos returned to Gijón after seven years of absence and imprisonment.

In 1782 it was decided to move a monumental arch here, which was finally demolished at the end of 1886. The monument to Jovellanos, by the Catalan sculptor Manuel Fuxá, was inaugurated in 1891, and in 1967 the Fuente Luminosa, designed by the engineer Carles Buïgas, was unveiled. In 1987 work began on the city’s first public underground car park, and the current square was inaugurated in early 1992. Around it stand the Correos (post office) building, in neo-Renaissance style and built in 1928, and the Mercado del Sur, which dates from 1889.