Museo de las Casas Reales

The Museo de las Casas Reales occupies the 16th-century buildings that served as the seat of Spanish colonial governance over the Americas. The collection covers the colonial period in exhaustive detail: weapons, armour, navigational instruments, maps, documents, and everyday objects from the first century of Spanish rule in the Caribbean.

The building itself is one of the finest examples of Spanish Renaissance architecture in the Americas, with a beautiful facade on Calle de las Damas. The museum is well maintained and the collection is excellent; it provides the essential historical context for understanding everything else you will see in the Zona Colonial.

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A story
The Casas Reales served as the seat of the Spanish colonial court for the entire Americas — the Audiencia here held jurisdiction over every Spanish colony from Florida to Patagonia. Governors, judges, and tax collectors sent reports here before they were forwarded to Spain. For much of the 16th century, this building was effectively the administrative centre of the known New World.