Its surrender in 1625, after a ten months' siege, to the Spaniards under Spinola is the subject of the famous picture by Velasquez in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.
The city is laid out regularly, with broad streets, a large central plaza and a public garden, or promenade, called the prado.
There is a pretty chapel called the " Rotunda," erected in 1852 at the lower end of the prado by President Belzu, on the spot where an attempt had been made to assassinate him.
The former, the old city, lying close to the harbour front, has streets as narrow as is consistent with wheel traffic. Obispo (Pi y Margall in the new republican nomenclature), O'Reilly and San Rafael are the finest retail business streets, and the Prado and the Cerro the handsomest residential streets in the city proper.
A large municipal gaol (1834-1837), capable of receiving 500 inmates, with barracks for a regiment, is a striking object on the Prado.