Another historical and architectural monument surrounding Lima's Plaza de Armas, is the Municipal Palace. The original building dates back to the early 17th century, but was destroyed mainly by earthquakes and fires several times. The current building, still on the same place as Lima's first town hall, was inaugurated in 1944. Even if the facade is of neoclassical style, Colonial characteristics like the original structure and the beautiful wooden balconies remained. Its interior design clearly has some French renaissance influence, but after passing the absolute astonishing richly decorated entrance hall an impressive white marble stairs lead you up to the golden era of Colonial times...

The Municipal Palace houses an amazing library in a typical Colonial ambience with treasures like the original of the 'Charter of Foundation of Lima' signed by Francisco Pizarro, the 'Declaration of Independence' and a piece of stone from the moon. The mansion is also home to the Municipal Art Gallery Ignacio Merino displaying an interesting collection of ancient Lima's photographs and impressive paintings from the Peruvian artists Ignacio Merino, José Sabogal and Francisco Laso.