Government Palace of Peru

The Government Palace in Lima, Peru, is the office of the president and also the president's official home. It stands on the north side of the Plaza Mayor, the main square of the capital, beside the Rímac River. It is also known as the House of Pizarro, after the conqueror Francisco Pizarro, who built the first palace here in 1535.

The palace you see today was built from 1926 to 1938 in a neo-baroque style, under the direction of President Oscar R. Benavides. Its chief architects were Claude Antoine Sahut and Ricardo de Jaxa Malachowski. Every day, around noon, a changing of the guard takes place at the gates.

A site with a long history

Before the Spanish arrived, a large sacred place, a huaca, stood here, where Taulichusco, the last native ruler of the Rímac valley, had lived. Pizarro founded Lima in 1535 and built a two-storey adobe house on the square. In 1541 supporters of a rival attacked and killed him there. After the Viceroyalty of Peru was created in 1542, the building became the Viceregal Palace, home to 43 viceroys until 1821.

Fires and the new palace

Earthquakes damaged the old viceregal palace in 1687 and 1746, and fires in 1884 and 1921 destroyed much of it. What was left was pulled down. The new palace was started in 1926 and finished in 1938. Today several ceremonial guard units of the Peruvian Armed Forces are based at the palace and take part in the daily Changing of the Guard and other official duties.

On the globe

The model shows the neo-baroque front of the palace facing the main square. Look for the long façade and the entrance gates.