The Cabildo, Spanish colonial government building in French Quarter, New Orleans, United States.
The Cabildo is a baroque building in the French Quarter standing directly beside St. Louis Cathedral at Jackson Square, with arched windows and a mansard roof. The three-story structure houses rooms filled with objects and exhibits from colonial and early American times in Louisiana.
Construction began in 1795 after a fire destroyed the earlier government building, and the structure was completed by 1799. In 1803, the transfer of the Louisiana territory from France to the United States took place here.
Exhibits show daily life in Louisiana across different periods, letting visitors see how people lived through household items and everyday tools. The galleries show how traders, plantation owners, and ordinary settlers organized their routines and interacted with each other.
The building stands on the corner of Jackson Square beside St. Louis Cathedral, with the iron fence along its base. The Sala Capitular on the upper floor is reached by stairs; the museum galleries occupy the floors above the ground level. The French Quarter sits slightly higher than the rest of the city, which spared the building during Hurricane Katrina.
The 1988 fire broke out on May 11, exactly 200 years after the 1788 Great Fire that destroyed the first Cabildo. It consumed the cupola and the whole third floor, and the restored building reopened in 1994. During Hurricane Katrina in 2005 the state police set up Troop N in the Cabildo's business offices.
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