National Palace of Culture, Nicaragua

Facing the Plaza de la Revolucion in Managua's old centre, this neoclassical palace was completed in 1935 as the seat of the National Congress. In 1978 Sandinista commandos famously seized it, taking hundreds of officials hostage. Today it houses the National Museum of Nicaragua, the national library and archives, with collections spanning pre-Columbian ceramics, colonial art and natural history. Its arcaded courtyards and painted ceilings recall the pre-earthquake grandeur of the lakeside capital.