Luanda - Palace of Cidade Alta obtained on Monday the status of National Historical and Cultural Heritage, as part of the process of preservation and enhancement of built heritage.
The unveiling of the identification plate was conducted by President of the Republic, João Lourenço, as part of the celebrations for the International Day for Monuments and Sites, which is celebrated on the same day.
The Government Palace, also known as Palacio da Cidade Alta, is a historic building that serves as the workplace for the President of the Republic.
This palace was the first headquarters of the government in independent Angola period, and from 1979 it housed the mortal remains of former President António Agostinho Neto, who remained in the main hall on the first floor.
For decades it was known as the People's Palace and hosted all the tributes paid to President Neto until 1991, when his remains were finally placed in the mausoleum, now the memorial of Dr. Antonio Agostinho Neto.
It is an infrastructure whose work began between 1607 and 1611, in a place known at the time as Largo da Feira (one of the main slave markets in Luanda), which was called then Largo do Palácio and Praça do Povo.
In 1621, 1624 and 1630, the building underwent facelift to serve as accommodation for the governors.
In 1761 it was almost completely demolished, having been rebuilt in the Pombaline style.
In the 1940s and 1950s, the architect Fernando Batalha, in the service of the National Monuments Commission, was commissioned to restructure the palace which resulted in the neoclassical style, with the addition of the projecting arcade and the triangular pediment.
