Castillo Marroquín (Marroquín Castle) is a palace built in 1898, located on the grounds of the Hacienda El Castillo in the La Caro sector in

Chía, Cundinamarca Chía is a city and municipality in the department of Cundinamarca Department, Cundinamarca in Colombia, located 10 km north of Bogotá on the main road to Zipaquira. Due to its proximity to Bogotá, Chía has effectively become a suburb of t ...

, Colombia. It owes its name to the fact that it is located on the land that was part of the estate of former president

José Manuel Marroquín Jose Manuel Cayetano Marroquín Ricaurte (August 6, 1827 – September 19, 1908) was a Colombian political figure and the 44th President of Colombia. Life José Manuel Marroquín was born in Bogotá, on August 6, 1827. Marroquín studied lit ...

History

It was designed and built in 1898 by the French-Colombian architect

Gastón Lelarge Gastón Eugène Lelarge (October 12, 1861 – August 9, 1934) was a French architect and writer responsible for much of the neoclassical constructions in Colombia. He designed the Casa de Nariño, the official residence of the President of Colomb ...

, commissioned by Lorenzo Marroquín Osorio. At that time, it had residential use. However, since it was sold by the Marroquín family, it has had various uses. This castle was the presidential house during the

Thousand Days' War The Thousand Days' War () was a civil war fought in Colombia from 17 October 1899 to 21 November 1902, at first between the Colombian Liberal Party, Liberal Party and the government led by the National Party (Colombia), National Party, and lat ...

and where the sale of Panama was negotiated, has been, in one hundred years, a refuge for politicians, ambassadors, novelists and oil magnates. But also large transformers. In 1952 it was saved from the ruins by the surgeon, Roberto Restrepo.

Chronology

*from 1889 Marroquín Family (Descendants of José Manuel Marroquín) *from 1952 Roberto Restrepo (Writer and surgeon) *from 1970 Guillermo Villamil (Oil Magnate) *from 1988 Juan Camilo Zapata Vásquez(Bogotá Cartel Chief) *from 2005 Colombian State (For Sale) *from 2024 National Pedagogic University

References

{{Reflist Palaces in Colombia Buildings and structures in Cundinamarca Department Residential buildings completed in 1898