Object description

The Palacio de las Academias is a Neo-Gothic building on the Avenida Universidad in the centre of Caracas, Venezuela. It dates back to 1684 when a Franciscan convent was built on the site but in the 19th century it served as a barracks, a hospital and a college. In 1876, under President Antonio Guzmán Blanco, the Universidad de Caracas was moved to the building, whose former colonial façade was rebuilt in the Neo-Gothic style. After the university relocated to a new campus in 1952, the building became home to the National Academies. In 1965, it was listed as a national monument. The Palacio de las Academias now houses six National Academies, which are the National Academy of History, the Venezuelan Academy of Language, the Academy of Medicine, the Academy of Political and Social Sciences, the Academy of Jurisprudence, and the Academy of Physics, Mathematics and Nature.