Smaller and less hectic than nearby Zócalo, this plaza has long served as a base for scribes and printers. Descendants of those who did the paperwork for merchants using the customs building (now the Education Ministry) across the square, the scribes work on the west side beneath the Portales de Santo Domingo, aka Portales de Evangelistas, as similar scribes have since the 18th century.
Nowadays Plaza Santo Domingo is also known for modern printers – peddlers of fake IDs, who often scam those who seek false papers. Since 2016 it has become the site for the annual UNAM Day of the Dead Megaofrenda.
To the north of the plaza stands the maroon stone Iglesia de Santo Domingo, a beautiful baroque church dating from 1736. East of the church is the 18th-century Palacio de la Inquisición, headquarters of the Holy Inquisition in Mexico until Spain decreed its closure in 1812, which is today home to the Museum of Mexican Medicine.
