Miraflores Palace

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.

It was started on 27 April 1884 under the direction of Giuseppe Orsi and was intended as the family residence of Joaquin Crespo. Also participated: painter Julián Oñate, Juan Bautista Sales and his team of esculptors, decorators, wood cavers, constructors - who erected the European-style Miraflores Palace. To decorate it, furniture was imported from Barcelona, Spain; a bronze rosette was commissioned to the Marrera foundry and 24 bronze lamps were ordered to 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 conmemorates 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 who starred.

Originally, Miraflores Palace served as presidential residence to 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 inhabited, guarded by the army. During the governments of Eleazar López Contreras and Isaías Medina Angarita, the presidential office is modified. In 1945, Rómulo Betancourt became the first president who identifies the seat of government as Miraflores Palace, replacing the name of Federal Palace.

In the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez, architect Luis Malaussena introduces radical changes inside the palace, eliminating part of Crespo's era decoration. The successive administrations, made some additions: a Japanese garden, an administrative building, the Ayacucho Hall, the Bicentennial square. In the first period of Rafael Caldera (1969–1974), starts the construction of the Administrative Building. In February 1979, the palace is declare National Historical Monument. During the government of Luis Herrera Campins (1979–1984), is concluded the Administrative Building and the Bicentennial square. In the mid 1980s, is extended the area for the Council of Ministers. During the 1990s and 2000s, began a process for the restoration of the original aspects of the palace. Miraflores has sometimes been the residence of the president of Venezuela, although La Casona is the actual official residence. In February 2007, opened the Simón Bolívar Press Room.