The Palacio Federal Legislativo (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: Federal Legislative Palace), also known as the Capitolio, is a historic building in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

which houses both the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

and the National Constituent Assembly. Located southeast of the Plaza Bolívar, it was built between 1872 and 1877 by President

Antonio Guzmán Blanco Antonio José Ramón de La Trinidad y María Guzmán Blanco (28 February 1829 – 28 July 1899) was a Venezuelan military leader, statesman, diplomat and politician. He was the president of Venezuela for three separate terms, from 1870 until 1 ...

to a design by the architect . The Salón Elíptico, opened in 1877, is topped by a golden dome.

Features

Presenting himself as a moderniser, Antonio Guzmán Blanco promoted anticlerical policies and the introduction of contemporary infrastructure to Venezuela, in particular in Caracas. The Palacio Federal Legislativo, located to the west of Plaza Bolívar, incorporates structural

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

. It replaced a convent on the site. The building is painted bright white and has a gilded oval-shaped

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

crowning an elliptically shaped room (known as the Oval Room). The dome's ceiling has a painting by

Martín Tovar y Tovar Martín Tovar y Tovar (10 February 1827 – 17 December 1902) was a Venezuelan painter, best known for his portraits and historical scenes. Biography Tovar was born and died in Caracas. His father, Antonio María Tovar (1791–1860), was a fo ...

which vividly depicts the crucial

Battle of Carabobo The Battle of Carabobo, on 24 June 1821, was fought between independence fighters, led by Venezuelan General Simón Bolívar, and the Royalist forces, led by Spanish Field Marshal Miguel de la Torre. Bolívar's decisive victory at Carabobo led ...

in the

Venezuelan War of Independence The Venezuelan War of Independence ( es, Guerra de Independencia de Venezuela, links=no, 1810–1823) was one of the Spanish American wars of independence of the early nineteenth century, when independence movements in Latin America fought agai ...

against Spanish colonial rule. The most notable professionals of the times were commissioned to design the building: Luciano Urdaneta and Roberto Garcia handled the engineering while the architect was

Juan Hurtado Manrique ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

. The complex consists of two rectangular volumes connected by two lower sections. It encloses a courtyard with a central fountain set in a small garden inside iron railings. The two Neoclassical buildings are known as the Legislative Palace and the Federal Palace. The first, completed in 1873, became the

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

in 1958 and the National Assembly in 2000. The façade of the Legislative Palace, completed in 1877, is symmetrical in design. It has a portico at the center. The triangular pediment has a bas-relief of busts of Simón Bolívar and Antonio Guzmán Blanco. There are three columnated portals, the one in the centre presenting two caryatids representing Justice and Freedom. The building houses a number of notable paintings by Venezuelan artists of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries including

, Antonio Herrera Toro, Tito Salas, Pedro Centeno Vallenilla and

Emilio Jacinto Mauri Emilio Jacinto Mauri Ivern (9 March 1855, La Guaira - 18 February 1908, Caracas) was a Venezuelan painter who specialized in portraits; mostly of an historical nature. Biography His father was Spanish and his mother was French. After 1861, his ...

. In addition to the dome painting of the Battle of Carabobo, the Oval Room also contains the Proceedings of the Constitutional Congress (1811–1812) which includes the handwritten version of the Declaration of Independence of Venezuela. The complex has been a National Historic Monument since 22 August 1997.

References

{{coord, 10, 30, 18, N, 66, 54, 57, W, display=title Government buildings completed in 1877 Buildings and structures in Caracas Cast-iron architecture in Venezuela Government buildings in Venezuela National Assembly (Venezuela) Palaces in Venezuela Tourist attractions in Caracas 1877 establishments in Venezuela

Features

See also

References