Miraflores Palace

Miraflores Palace
Miraflores Palace, Caracas, Venezuela
General information
Architectural style	Neoclassical
Town or city	Urdaneta Avenue Caracas
Country	Venezuela
Construction started	1884
Completed	1897
Client	Joaquín Crespo
Design and construction
Architect	Giussepi Orsi

Coordinates: 10°30′29″N 66°55′10″W / 10.50803°N 66.91938°W / 10.50803; -66.91938

The Palacio de Miraflores (Spanish for Miraflores Palace) is the official workplace of the President of Venezuela. It is located on Urdaneta Avenue, Libertador Municipality in Caracas.

Construction on the building started on 27 April 1884, under the direction of Giuseppe Orsi, intended as the family residence of Joaquin Crespo. Also participating: painter Julián Oñate, Juan Bautista Sales and his team of sculptors, decorators, wood carvers, builders - who erected the European-style Miraflores Palace. To decorate it, furniture was imported from Barcelona, Spain; a bronze rosette was commissioned from the Marrera foundry and 24 bronze lamps were ordered from Requena brothers at San Juan de los Morros, Guárico state. In 1911, the national administration acquired the property from General Félix Galavis at a cost of five houndred thousand bolívares, and Miraflores Palace became the official presidential residence and office.

After many modifications, the current palace presents fountains encompassed by corridors and halls, such as the Peruvian Sun Hall, decorated with gold donated by the government of Peru; the Joaquín Crespo Hall, with its four gigantic rock-crystal mirrors; Vargas Swamp, which commemorates the Battle of Boyacá, in Colombia; the Ambassador Hall, where diplomats are received; and Ayacucho Hall, in honor of Marshall Antonio José de Sucre and the battle in which he starred.

Miraflores Palace served as presidential residence of Cipriano Castro and then Juan Vicente Gómez, who occupied it until 1913. From 1914 to 1922, it functioned as office to the provisional administration of Victorino Márquez Bustillos. In 1923, Miraflores witnessed the murder of Vice-president Juan Crisóstomo Gómez, brother of President Juan Vicente Gómez. From 1931 to 1935, the palace was uninhabited, guarded by the army. During the governments of Eleazar López Contreras and Isaías Medina Angarita, the presidential office was modified. In 1945, Rómulo Betancourt became the first president who identified the seat of government as Miraflores Palace, replacing the name Federal Palace.