Ayuntamiento of Antigua Guatemala, Spanish Baroque government palace in Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala.
The Ayuntamiento of Antigua Guatemala, or Casa de Cabildo, stands on 4th Street facing Central Park beside the Cathedral. Its facade has a double arcade of solid stone Tuscan columns, and the eastern wall is clad in carved stone. The building was erected between 1740 and 1743.
The building was constructed in 1740 and served as the regional administration center during Spanish colonial rule. Its construction marked an important moment in the city's growth as a colonial governmental seat.
The cabildo was the criollo counterweight to royal power: two ordinary mayors, thirteen regidores, a procurator and a mayordomo sat here. The building now houses the Municipality of Antigua Guatemala, so its arcades still serve civic administration, not a museum collection.
The building stands on 4th Street facing Parque Central, beside the Cathedral, and houses the offices of the Municipality of Antigua Guatemala. Visitors reach it on foot from anywhere around the plaza; the double-arcade facade and the carved-stone eastern wall are visible from the street.
The 1751 earthquake damaged much of the city but left the Ayuntamiento untouched, as the source records. The 1773 Santa Marta tremors struck on 29 July around three in the afternoon, followed an hour later by a violent quake lasting about a minute in heavy rain; the Cabildo was among the public buildings listed as luxurious before that disaster.
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