Translations:Fernando Botero/21/en

The archbishop's palace was the target of several attacks in 1862 and 1886. However, on April 9, 1948, the day of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination and as a result of the riots and looting that occurred in response in the center of Bogotá, the house was burned down and completely destroyed. Banco de la República then decided to acquire the land and to undertake the work of reconstructing it based on aerial photographs and images of the original facade. In 1955, it was rented to the Supreme Court of Justice, and in 1979 it became the Luis López de Mesa Newspaper Library. After the takeover of the Palace of Justice in November 1985, the house was again used as a temporary Supreme Court. In the nineties, the house was transformed into an art exhibition area and offices for the Cultural Division of Banco de la República. In the year 2000, following Fernando Botero’s donation of the 208 works, the house was again reformed to become the permanent venue of the Botero Museum.