Palaces to visit Santo Domingo

Located at the end of the Plaza España esplanade, the austere façade of the palace overlooks the River Ozama. It was built between 1511 and 1514 on the model of a similar building in Salamanca, Spain. It was the first fortified palace built by the Spanish colonizers, and the only known residence of a member of the Columbus family. To take charge of this monumental construction, an architect, whose identity has been forgotten, came specially from Spain. Some 1,500 Amerindians were forced to build the edifice from coral rock quarried from the banks of the Ozama River, using only hammer, chisel and saw. The building's style is predominantly Gothic and Arabic, with a few Renaissance features, such as the arcades. A technical feat, the Alcazar's 55 rooms (only 22 still exist today) and 72 doors and windows were built without a single nail. During his great sacking in 1586, the English pirate Francis Drake is suspected of having stolen most of the palace's valuables. The building was subsequently abandoned over the centuries and soon fell into ruin. There is evidence that the site, once an emblem of Spanish power, was used to confine cattle in the ^18th century. It wasn't until 1870 that it was declared a national monument to preserve its ruins. The Dominican government ordered its renovation between 1955 and 1957.