One of the most elegant survivals of Montevideo’s early-20th-century confidence and prosperity. Palacio Taranco stands beside Plaza Zabala in Ciudad Vieja, on the site once occupied by the colonial-era Casa de Comedias, regarded as the city’s first theatre. Commissioned by the Ortiz de Taranco family in 1908, the residence was designed by the French architects Charles-Louis Girault and Jules-Léon Chifflot, whose work gave the house a distinctly French, aristocratic character.
The palace is much more than an imposing façade: it was planned as a highly cultivated private home, with formal reception rooms, a dining room, decorative staircases and richly appointed interiors. Its architecture drew on French 18th-century styles, while imported materials, furnishings and decoration expressed the cosmopolitan tastes of Montevideo’s wealthy families during the Belle Époque. The building was acquired by the Uruguayan state in 1943 together with its furnishings and art collection; it was subsequently established as the Museo de Artes Decorativas in 1972 and declared a national historic monument in 1975.
Today, the museum allows visitors to see the palace not merely as a container for exhibits, but as an evocation of the lifestyle of its original owners. Two floors present the permanent collections amid much of the original furniture and decoration: European period furniture, tapestries, lamps, clocks, porcelain, bronzes and other refined domestic objects. There are also paintings and sculptures, including works associated with Spanish and European artists such as Goya, Sorolla, Ribera and Mariano Benlliure, which give the rooms the feel of a carefully preserved private collection rather than a conventional gallery.
A particularly rewarding element lies below ground, where the museum holds a notable archaeological collection. Here, the focus shifts from Belle Époque Montevideo to the ancient Mediterranean and beyond, with original Greek, Roman and Iranian objects among the material on display. That unexpected contrast is part of Palacio Taranco’s appeal: in one visit, it is possible to move from the social world of Uruguay’s early-20th-century elite to much older civilisations, all within one of Ciudad Vieja’s most memorable historic residences.
Museo de Artes Decorativas
Palacio Taranco
Montevideo
Uruguay
https://www.museos.gub.uy
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