National Palace (Haiti)

The National Palace (French: Palais National) was the official residence of the President of Haiti, located in Port-au-Prince, facing Place L'Ouverture near the Champs de Mars. It was severely damaged during an earthquake in January 2010. The ruins of the building were demolished in late 2012 and plans to rebuild the palace have not been set.

History and design

A reported total of four residences built for the country's rulers, whether the colonial governor general, emperor, or president, have occupied the site since the mid to late 18th century. At one point in the site's tumultuous history, when the chief of state was without an official home due to damage, a 19th-century French-style villa on Avenue Christophe assumed that role.

The earliest structure was the Government Palace (Palais du Gouvernement), which was constructed in the 18th century as the residence of the French governor general of Saint-Domingue. Its first Haitian inhabitant was the country's first president, the Franco-Haitian mulatto General Alexandre Pétion. The structure was deemed "nothing less than a palace", made of painted wood, with "a handsome flight of steps leading into good reception-rooms". A visitor in 1831 noted the building was "large and convenient, but not handsome. It is of one story, and situated in front of the parade, to the southeast of the town. Its entrance is up a fine flight of steps, leading through a spacious portico into the hall of audience. The floors of all the public rooms are of black and white marble. The furniture is tasteful and elegant, but not costly. This building ... was constructed with more attention to convenience than effect. The apartments are pleasantly cool." In front of the palace stood the marble tomb of President Pétion and one of his daughters.

National Palace

Buildings called National Palace include:

In Portugal:

National Palace (Dominican Republic)

The National Palace (Spanish: Palacio Nacional) is a building in Santo Domingo, that houses the offices of the Executive Branch (Presidency and Vice Presidency) of the Dominican Republic.

History

Designed in a restrained neoclassical style by Italian architect Guido D'Alessandro at the behest of Rafael Trujillo, construction started on February 27, 1944 —The centenary of Dominican independence —and was inaugurated on August 16, 1947. Occupying an area of 18,000 square metres and luxuriously appointed throughout, the National Palace is considered one of the most beautiful buildings built in the Dominican Republic.

The building stands on the grounds of the former Presidential Mansion (Mansión Presidencial), built during the United States military occupation of 1916-1924.

Design

While the president's office is located within the palace, the Palacio Nacional is not an executive residence as the president does not live there; there is no designated Executive Residence in Santo Domingo. The building comprises three stories. Building services are located at ground level.

National Palace (Mexico)

The National Palace (Palacio Nacional in Spanish) is the seat of the federal executive in Mexico. It is located on Mexico City's main square, the Plaza de la Constitución (El Zócalo). This site has been a palace for the ruling class of Mexico since the Aztec empire, and much of the current palace's building materials are from the original one that belonged to Moctezuma II.

Current complex

Used and classified as a Government Building, the National Palace, with its red tezontle facade, fills the entire east side of the Zócalo, measuring over 200 meters long. It is home to some of the offices of both the Federal Treasury and the National Archives.

Description

The facade is bordered on the north and south by two towers and include three main doorways, each of which lead to a different part of the building. The southern door leads to the Patio of Honor and presidential offices (no public access). The northern door is known as the Mariana Door, named in honor of Mariano Arista who had it constructed in 1850. The area next to this door used to be the old Court Prison, with courtrooms and torture chambers. It is now occupied by the Finance Ministry. It contains the Treasury Room, constructed by architects Manuel Ortiz Monasterio and Vicente Mendiola. The iron and bronze door is the work of Augusto Petriccioli.

Haiti

Coordinates: 19°00′N 72°25′W / 19.000°N 72.417°W / 19.000; -72.417

Haiti (ⁱ/ˈheɪti/; French: Haïti [a.iti]; Haitian Creole: Ayiti [ajiti]), officially the Republic of Haiti (French: République d'Haïti; Haitian Creole: Repiblik Ayiti), is a country in the western hemisphere, and is located on the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Haiti is 27,750 square kilometres (10,714 sq mi) in size and has an estimated 10.6 million people, making it the most populous country in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the third-most populous country in the Caribbean as a whole.

Originally inhabited by the indigenous Taíno people, Europeans first became aware of the island on December 5, 1492 during the first voyage of Christopher Columbus across the Atlantic. When Columbus first landed in Haiti, he had thought he had found India or Asia. Deciding to establish the first settlement in the area, a contingent of men were left at an outpost christened La Navidad because of the wreck to their sunken flagship, the Santa Maria, that occurred at Christmas, north of what is now Limonade. The island was named Hispaniola and claimed by Spain, which ruled until the early 17th century. Competing claims and settlements by the French led to the western portion of the island being ceded to France, which named it Saint-Domingue. The development of sugarcane plantations, worked by slaves brought from Africa, led to the colony being among the most lucrative in the world.

Haiti I Am Sorry

"Haiti I am Sorry", or simply "Haiti", is a calypso song written and composed by David Rudder, and first recorded in 1988 for the album Haiti by David Rudder and Charlie's Roots. The song is about the serious trouble in Haiti.

Personnel

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Hispaniola

Hispaniola (Spanish: La Española; Latin: Hispaniola; Taíno: Haiti) is the 22nd-largest island in the world, located in the Caribbean island group, the Greater Antilles. It is the second largest island in the Caribbean after Cuba, and the tenth most populous island in the world.

Two sovereign nations share the 76,192 square kilometres (29,418 sq mi) island. The Dominican Republic with 48,445 square kilometres (18,705 sq mi) is nearly twice as large as its neighbor, Haiti, which contains 27,750 square kilometres (10,710 sq mi). The only other shared island in the Caribbean is Saint Martin, shared between France (Saint-Martin) and the Netherlands (Sint Maarten).

It is the site of the first European settlement in the Americas founded by Christopher Columbus on his voyages in 1492 and 1493.

History

Etymology

The island was called by various names by its native people, the Taíno Amerindians. When Columbus took possession of the island in 1492, he named it Insula Hispana, meaning "the Spanish Island" in Latin and La Isla Española, meaning "the Spanish Island", in Spanish.Bartolomé de las Casas shortened the name to "Española", and when Pietro Martyr d‘Anghiera detailed his account of the island in Latin, he rendered its name as Hispaniola.