Casa de Nariño

In front of you, behind railings and guards, is the Casa de Nariño, residence and office of the president of Colombia. The name is not an abstract tribute: on this very plot, on 9 April 1765, Antonio Nariño was born.

1A dangerous translator

The son of a well-off Santafé family, Nariño was a merchant, an official and a voracious reader. Around 1793 he secretly translated and printed the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen from the French Revolution. His daring cost him dearly: he was put on trial and spent long years in prison or in exile. He later became president of the State of Cundinamarca and a general in the war of independence. His remains now rest in the Primatial Cathedral.

2From the Palacio de la Carrera to the Casa de Nariño

The family mansion, known as the Palacio de la Carrera, was bought by the State in 1885. General Rafael Reyes had it demolished and rebuilt to plans by Gaston Lelarge and Julián Lombana, and the new palace was inaugurated on 20 July 1908. Between 1974 and 1978 it was enlarged and remodelled, and the presidency moved back here in 1979 and 1980.

Its gardens still hold the Astronomical Observatory of 1803, designed by Friar Domingo de Petrés. The creoles who plotted the flower-vase quarrel met there in secret.

The palace has also been a target of violence. On 7 August 2002, during President Álvaro Uribe's inauguration, a home-made rocket struck its cornice. Security in the area has been much tighter ever since.

3What to look for

• The neoclassical stone façade, with its pediment and columns.
• The Presidential Guard soldiers watching over the entrances.
• The railings and checkpoints that mark the palace's security perimeter.