Legislative Palace, Parliament building in Montevideo, Uruguay.

The Legislative Palace is the parliament building in Montevideo, Uruguay, housing both chambers of the national assembly. The structure spans an entire city block and uses marble from different quarries across the country for facades, columns, and vaults in neoclassical style.

Work began in 1908 after Victor Meano won an international competition, but he never learned of his success because he was murdered beforehand. Gaetano Moretti took over the direction and carried the project through to its inauguration in 1925.

The Hall of Lost Steps is named for its function as a grand circulation space between the chambers, not for any folk tale. It has served as a lying-in-state venue for figures such as poet Juana de Ibarbourou, who received the title "Juana of America" there in 1929, and writers Mario Benedetti and Eduardo Galeano. The hall also keeps the original copies of the 1830 Constitution and the 1825 Declaration of Independence.

Tours must be booked in advance and typically last about an hour through the main rooms and corridors. Visitors should wear comfortable shoes as there are many staircases and long hallways to walk through.

The square skylight crowning the crossing is not a dome but a lantern decorated with 24 caryatids, each almost four metres tall, carved by different sculptors. They personify industry, law, mathematics, physics, architecture, agriculture, painting, commerce, poetry, medicine, music and sculpture, each repeated twice. Gaetano Moretti added this tall centrepiece, replacing Meano's flat-roofed design inspired by the Vienna Parliament.