Casa de la Independencia Museum, Historical museum in Asunción, Paraguay
Casa de la Independencia Museum occupies a single-storey colonial house built in 1772 by Antonio Martínez Sáenz, with adobe walls, a tiled roof and a framework of palm and bamboo. Its white plastered corner facade has tall narrow windows with dark vertical grilles under shallow white arches, and two dark panelled doors. Inside, rooms such as the office, dining room, living room, bedroom and oratory hold the independence-era collections.
The house served as a gathering place for leaders planning Paraguay's independence from Spanish rule. These meetings ultimately led to the independence declaration in May 1811.
The rooms display French furniture from the early 1800s and religious wood carvings from Jesuit workshops, showing how wealthy colonial families lived and decorated their homes. These pieces give a window into the daily life and tastes of Paraguay's upper classes during that period.
The museum occupies the corner of Presidente Franco and 14 de Mayo streets, a few blocks from the Governor's former residence reached by the patriots on the night of May 14, 1811. The entrance to the Historical Alley is through a door of the Capitulary Saloon, across the yard. The rooms open off the corridor and patio, so visitors pass the office, dining room, living room, bedroom and oratory before reaching the yard.
The Callejón Histórico, reached through a door of the Capitulary Saloon, is the passage the patriots took on the night of May 14, 1811. Juana María de Lara also walked it to the Cathedral to ask Padre Molas for the bell signal rung on the morning of May 15.
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