Palacio de Torre Tagle
The building exterior in 2007
Interactive map of the Palacio de Torre Tagle area
General information
Status	Completed
Type	Mansion
Architectural style	AndalusianBaroque Mudéjar Churrigueresque
Location	Jirón Ucayali,Lima,Peru
Coordinates	12°02′56″S77°01′46″W / 12.04884°S 77.02931°W /-12.04884; -77.02931
Current tenants	Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Completed	1735
Renovated	1956
Owner	Government of Peru(since 1918)
Grounds	1,699 m2 (18,290 sq ft)
Design and construction
Architect	José Bernardo de Tagle Bracho
Renovating team
Architect	Andrés Boyer

ThePalacio de Torre Tagle is aresidential mansion built during thecolonial era of Peru that currently houses offices of theMinistry of Foreign Affairs of Peru. It is located in theJirón Ucayali in thehistoric centre ofLima, two blocks southeast of thePlaza Mayor.^[1]

It comprises a built area of 1,699 m² (18,290 sq ft). The materials used in the construction of the Palacio de Torre Tagle were brought fromSpain,Panama and otherCentral American countries.^[1]

The mansion was built at the early-18th century and was completed in 1735^[2] forJosé Bernardo de Tagle Bracho who, on November 26, 1730, KingPhilip V of Spain, by virtue of his extensive services to the Crown, granted the title ofMarquis of Torre Tagle, thus making him the founder of thatmarquessate.

The Peruvian State acquired the colonial building on June 27, 1918, for the sum of S/. 320,000 to the heirs ofRicardo Ortiz de Zevallos y Tagle,4th Marquis of Torre Tagle. It was restored in 1956 by the Spanish architect Andrés Boyer, and it was, since 1918 to 2023, the main headquarters of theMinistry of Foreign Affairs of Peru, actually houses the National Directorate of State Ceremonial and Protocol.

Thefaçade of the Palacio de Torre Tagle, is ofAndalusianBaroque style and shows carved stone porticos and arches and two artisticMudéjar wooden balconies,cedar andmahogany, wood carving. Regarding the architectural style of this house, the architect Héctor Velarde Bergmann specifies:

"The Palacio de Torre-Tagle is a symbol of Lima and is unrivaled for its style, grace and richness. It does not look like anything in its so Liman unit. Its luxurious elegance gracefully departs from the ornate, and its ample proportions are never lost in emptiness. Its aesthetic quality is perfect as its expression of time and place."

"The Andalusian, Criollo and even Asian contributions are harmonized with incomparable charm."

The exterior part presents a remarkable and asymmetrical façade, a characteristic that gives it agility and harmony, with a carved portal, in stone in the first body and in stucco in the second, in the most charming Liman Baroque, in whose upper part thenoble coat of arms of the Torre Tagle family in which the legend reads:

"Tagle se llamó el que la sierpe mató y con la infanta casó."

means:

"Tagle was called the one that killed the snake and got married with the infanta."

On its second floor, it is adorned with two typical balconies, which was the most beautiful from the colonial period, made of carved cedar and mahogany wood and of Mudéjar reminiscence, highlighting the asymmetry of the façade, since one, the one on the right, It has three sections and the one on the left seven, both are completely closed withblinds withslats, both balconies, which reflect the transition from the Andalusian Mudéjar style to theHispanic-American Baroque, havecorbels, or carved wooden supports, withHindu-inspired motifs.

The windows in the lower part of the house are simple and withwrought iron bars whose austerity contrasts with the ornate style of the balconies. The impressive-sized wooden door, decorated with bronze nails and adorned with two full-sizedoor knockers, opens into azaguan, featuring four stone-carved segmental arches with a stone floor, in the zaguan to the right and left, there are small steps used by the ladies to get on their mounts without difficulty.

On the platforms that crown them, you can see that the stone pieces are joined by copper stars. Near this place a chain was placed that signified the right of Asylum, a privilege that the Palace of the Marquises of Torre Tagle had, and which somechurches in Lima also enjoyed at that time. The walls of thezaguan are decorated with Sevillianazulejos and the ceiling is remarkablyartesonado.

The zaguan leads to a first courtyard, with a spacious entrance, wide, bright and surrounded by elegantbalustrades, arcades and Mudéjar-style columns, conceived as the vital center of the entire architectural complex that gravitates towards it. The style is mainly Andalusian Baroque with an obvious Mudéjar influence on the two floors surrounding the central courtyard. The upper floor is reached by a spacious and opulent staircase at the entrance of which is a notable stone doorway withtrefoil arches that, like those on the upper floor, exhibit Andalusian Mudéjar influence.

On the ceiling of the staircase of the Palacio de Torre Tagle, thecoat of arms of theMarquis can be seen, made up of three quarters in which aknight, asnake and amaiden can be distinguished, symbolizing the nickname:Tagle was called the one that the snake killed and with the infanta killed. The upper floor of this family home features elegant galleries withazulejos baseboards,guardrail withbalusters and fine mosaic floors.

It has fourteen rooms, a dining room, a kitchen, a small chapel, with a fire-gilded Baroque altar, adorned with mirrors and elegant halls, the decorative and interestingazulejos (dating from 1735). One of the rooms, called the Salón Principal, shows the portraits of the Torre Tagle family, one of them shows Don José Bernardo de Tagle Bracho, the 1st Marquis of Torre Tagle who became, in conclusion, the architect of the palace, according to the inscription on the painting:

"Mr. José Bernardo de Tagle y Bracho, 1st Marquis of Torre-Tagle, captain of Light horses, Spanish lances from the fort of Purén, in the conquests of the kingdom of Chile. Governor of the South Sea war expeditions. Perpetual General Paymaster of the Presidio of Callao and its royal army, and founder of the mayorazgos and patronages of his House".

Another of the paintings shows his wife (she died in 1761). One of the palace's greatest attractions is its 18th-century blue and red carriage, which was used by the Marquis of Torre Tagle. The second courtyard was used for the stables, services and garages, with carriages of the time.

• 
  Palacio de Torre Tagle in 1866. (Lima or Sketches of the Capital of Peru byManuel A. Fuentes and Firmin Didot, Brothers, Sons & Co.).University of Chicago Library.^[3]
• 
  Festivities of theCentennial of the Independence of Peru inside the Palacio de Torre Tagle, photo of 1921.^[4]
• 
  Palacio de Torre Tagle in 1930.
• 
  Zaguan of the Palacio de Torre Tagle, photo of 1947.^[5]
• 
  Palacio de Torre Tagle in 1971.^[6]
• 
  "Tagle se llamó el que la sierpe mató y con la infanta casó."

• Architecture of Peru
• Balconies of Lima

Media related toPalacio de Torre Tagle at Wikimedia Commons

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Peru)
• Houses completed in 1735
• Buildings and structures in Lima
• Tourist attractions in Lima
• Colonial Peru
• Baroque palaces in Peru
• Churrigueresque architecture in Peru
• Mudéjar architecture in Peru
• 18th-century establishments in the Viceroyalty of Peru
• Historic Centre of Lima

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