page_title: Palacio de las Academias
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Palacio de las Academias / History
caption_attribution_description: Iglesia y parte del convento de San Francisco, hacia 1845
context_page_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.
context_section_description: The Convent of San Francisco was the first of many which were built in the valleys of Caracas. Founded in 1576 and built within the next ten years, it was initially under Franciscan friars until 1597 when it was transferred to the Dominicans. From 1673, laymen could study in the classrooms. It was supplemented with another building at the back in 1794, which was damaged by the great earthquake of 1812. By the 1820s, it was one of 40 convents in the city. By 1835, the National Library was situated in the convent. Diego Bautista Urbaneja was the first director (c. 1833-35).
  The building gained a new façade in 1876 during the presidency of Antonio Guzmán Blanco.  Initially the San Francisco Convent, then the Central University of Venezuela, the building later became known as the Biblioteca or the Central Library. Since the tenure of President Pérez Jiménez, it has been called the Palace of the Academies.
caption: The  Iglesia de San Francisco and part of the Convent of San Francisco (1845).
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