Plaza Colón is one of the most important plazas in all of San Juan. If you enter the San Juan islet by land, through Puerta de Tierra, this plaza will be right at the entrance of the walled city. Before 1897, this eastern part of San Juan was protected by the Puerta de Santiago, one of the stone walls that encircled Old San Juan. Later on, this wall was deemed unnecessary and an obstacle to San Juan’s economic progress, and it was quickly demolished in May of that year. In the center of the plaza, you'll find a monument of Christopher Columbus, which commemorate the fourth centenary of the arrival of the Spanish.