Alcazar Museum of Diego Colón

The current Alcazar Museum of Diego Colón was built between the years 1510-1514 as a dwelling place for Diego Colón and his descendants by order of the King Ferdinand the Catholic, upon arrival on the island as Governor.

The House of Diego Colon, first son of the discoverer of America, Christopher Columbus is Gothic Mudejar style, it also has renaissance details, mainly in their arches and equally has a touch of Elizabethan style on the tassels that adorn it. The predominant material in the infrastructure are the coral rocks.

It was the first palace built with these characteristics. Its 55 rooms housed well-known characters such as Hernan Cortes y Peter Alvarado, plus three generations of Diego Colón and his wife Mary of Toledo they occupied the palace until 1577 and after that there were legal disputes for more than two centuries, which led to the breakdown of the infrastructure.

By 1776 the beautiful palace of Diego Colón was practically a ruin. There were projects to rebuild it, one of which was the project to convert it into a public jail but the project did not prosper. By 1783 the ruined palace served as an animal shelter and so it was until the year 1870 where the authorities declared it a National Monument in order to protect its ruins.

The current Alcazar Museum of Diego Colón It was remodeled between the years 1955-1957 under the direction of the Spanish architect Javier Barroso who added some changes from the original construction.

The Alcazar Museum is dedicated to the governor, the Viceroy and second Admiral Don Diego Colón and exhibits about 800 pieces including furniture, tapestries, sculptures, ceramics and paintings that are from the XNUMXth to the XNUMXth century.

The museum is located in the Plaza España, In the Colonial Zone of Santo Domingo and it is open to the public from Tuesday to Saturday from 9 to 5 in the afternoon and on Sundays from 9 to 4 in the afternoon.