The Plaza has a historical character, and is built of brick and stone on the outside, forming a beautiful area of 60 sides, and of stone and cast iron on the inside. It also features four main doors, and the front door is where bullfighters leave if they have made a real “bullfight” showing his courage and bravery while performing his art in the bullring.

At the front door, visitors are welcomed by a bronze statue in honor to the Toro de Lidia and, in the back door, there is another one dedicated to the great bullfighter Paquirri making a “cambiada portagayola”. Since its inauguration in 1880, all figures of bullfighting have passed through this place, from Manolete to Dominguín, nobody has refused visiting this place. Such is its importance, that the sign at the entrance includes a plaque with the words of the great Joselito “quien no ha visto toros en el Puerto no sabe qué es un día de toros” (“someone who has never seen bulls in Puerto does not know what a bull day is”).

Puerto de Santa María is a city that holds a great bullfighting tradition, although it is believed that bullfights were already performed for many centuries. The first ones registered were performed in the seventeenth century, when Plaza de la Herrería and Plaza de la Iglesia, were adorned by surrounding them with wooden planks to recreate a bullring, until they built Plaza Real de Toros de El Puerto. This is the only one of 6 squares built in ancient times that we can visit nowadays.