Statue of Pedro Domingo Murillo in the Plaza Murillo with a young couple in front, La Paz, Bolivia

La Paz is situated at 3500 metres above sea level in a narrow canyon in the high Altiplano. The rich part of the city is in the bottom of the valley and the poorer inhabitants live in ramshackle houses crowded onto the steep valley slopes.. It is the political capital of Bolivia although technically Sucre is the capital. It was founded as a centre of Spanish colonialism in the Andes in the sixteenth century. The Plaza Murillo is the main square of the colonial city centre. The cathedral was built between 1835 and 1989 in a neo classical style. Pedro Domingo Murillo was hanged in the square in 1810 after leading a failed independence rebellion against the Spanish. A statue remembers this and the square is named after Murillo.