Plaza de Lima
It takes its name from Lima, the capital of Peru, within the series of Spanish American place names given to the extension of the Castellana.
The name travels across the Atlantic, to Lima, the capital of Peru that Francisco Pizarro founded in 1535 in the valley of the Rímac River under the name City of the Kings. Madrid granted it to this roundabout on October 21, 1953, when it was naming the new avenue with a roster of Spanish American cities. Close by, Plaza de Cuzco completes the Peruvian pair.
The place grew out of a major urban project. From 1933, after the old Castellana racecourse was demolished, the Paseo de la Castellana was to be extended in a straight line for more than five kilometers, dotted with squares. This one was laid out circular, with a seventy-meter radius, though the asphalt took years to catch up with its name.
Today the roundabout distributes traffic between Chamartín and Tetuán, where the Avenida del General Perón and the Avenida de Concha Espina meet. The Santiago Bernabéu stadium rises a step away.