Palacio de Carondelet

Carondelet Palace
Palacio de Carondelet Template:Es icon
General information
Type	Palace
Architectural style	French renaissance, Spanish baroque
Location	Quito, Ecuador
Address	García Moreno st. and Chile rd.
Coordinates	0°13′11″S 78°30′45″W
Elevation	2,820 m (9,252 ft)
Current tenants	President of Ecuador
Construction started	1801
Client	Barón Francisco Luis Héctor de Carondelet
Owner	Ecuadorian government

Carondelet Palace (Spanish: Palacio de Carondelet) is the seat of government of the Republic of Ecuador, located in Quito. Access is by the public space known as Independence Square or Plaza Grande (colloquial name), around which are also the Archbishop's Palace, Municipal Palace, Hotel Plaza Grande, and Metropolitan Cathedral.

History

The history of this emblematic building dates back to colonial times, around 1570, with the acquisition of the former royal houses located in the city of Quito.

First Royal Houses

The first seat of the Spanish Crown in the Royal Audience of Quito functioned near the convent of La Merced (current Cuenca and Chile streets) until around the year 1611, when dies Diego Suarez de Figueroa, secretary of the audience, who owned a small palace built in the central square (Plaza Grande).

Juan Fernandez de Recalde, president of the Audience then informed the king that the building was finished, and it was purchased by the Crown as a larger building to house the comfortable premises of the Spanish Administration in Quito soil.

Some time later, the successor to President Recalde, Antonio de Morga, informed the king that the royal houses were unworthy to carry that name, because they were close and very old, so they proposed to buy the adjacent houses. The earthquake of 1627 forced them to buy the neighboring buildings that, because of their age, were rebuilt in stone and brick. Thereafter, the power of the audience settled in front of the Plaza Grande.

The New Palace

In 1799, the Barón Francisco Luis Héctor de Carondelet was appointed chairman of the hearing. In 1801, the Spanish engaged to Antonio Garcia, under his direction, perform work of rehabilitation and improvements, both at the Palace of the audience at the Cathedral as well; also led the work on the arches of the sewers and the renovation of the Prison building.

After the independence of Ecuador culminated with the Battle of Pichincha in 1822, the palace became the headquarters of the South Department of Gran Colombia, receiving the liberator Simón Bolívar sometimes, who wondered at the elegance and austerity of the building in addition to being delighted with the taste of the Baron of Carondelet (main thrust of the work); thus, Bolivar gave the building the name of Carondelet Palace.

The Republican Carondelet

The Yellow Hall or President's Hall.

During the Republican era, almost all the presidents (constitutional, internees and dictators) have dispatched from this building, which is the seat of Government of the Republic of Ecuador.

There has been some changes over the years, the most important in the presidencies of Gabriel García Moreno, Camilo Ponce Enríquez and Sixto Durán Ballén.

In addition to the administrative units in the third level of the Palace is the presidential residence, a luxurious colonial-style apartment in which the President and his family live.

Currently, the Presidency and Vice Presidency of the Republic and the Ministry of the Interior, occupy the Complex of Carondelet, which includes the buildings of the former Mail (current Benalcázar street, between Chile and Espejo) and the Government Palace, separated by the garage.

Opening to the Public

Rafael Correa, president since 2007, considering the Carondelet Palace and its agencies an Ecuadorian cultural heritage, converted the presidential compound into a museum accessible to all who wish to visit it.

To this end, areas were organized for the placement of objects within their cultural contexts, so as to make them accessible to the public, alloting several rooms and spaces within the palace.

To carry out this work, Maria del Carmen Molestina researcher, PhD in Archeology, and former director of the Museum of the Central Bank of Ecuador, inventoried objects and identified places where the gifts that President Correa received while in office could be exhibited. Furthermore, she located objects and antique furniture from the palace with cultural value to be placed in the exhibition gallery.

Under this system, it is now possible to assign to the presidential gifts their corresponding cultural, historical and/or ethnographic value, as they are all objects that represent and embody customs, traditions, ideologies, and forms of thinking of different Ecuadorian ethnic groups.

Plunder of the Palace

According to the researcher, Dr. María del Carmen Molestina, it is amazing how, over the years, the Carondelet Palace has been looted. Most of the furniture and items that can be seen today are new; even some of the bronze fittings from the furniture dating for the time of Garcia Moreno have been replaced by copies of gold-sprayed lead.

The investigation, which Dr. Molestina is currently conducting, is directed at when the so-called looting began. The Carondelet Palace was restored during the presidency of Camilo Ponce Enriquez (1956-1960) and until the presidency of León Febres Cordero (1984-1988), all was as it should have been. From that period there is no information about the fate of much of the belongings of the Presidential Palace.

Additionally, Molestina believes that everything was kept until the presidency of Rodrigo Borja (1988-1992) after which Sixto Durán Ballen (1992-1996) ordered a new presidential suite on the third floor of the palace.