The Cabildo

The sala capitular on the second floor is where the Louisiana Purchase transfer was signed on December 20, 1803. Spanish colonial officials had been using the courtroom for four years — the building went up in 1799 as the seat of the Illustrious Cabildo, the Spanish municipal government. Within a single decade, the hall served under Spanish, French, and American flags. After the transfer, the Louisiana territorial superior court took the courtroom from 1803 to 1812. Between 1868 and 1910, the Louisiana Supreme Court held session in the same sala. The room was the site of Plessy v. Ferguson. By 1895, the building was decaying. The city proposed demolition. Artist William Woodward organized a preservation campaign that succeeded. In 1911, with the state's highest court having vacated, the Cabildo became home to the Louisiana State Museum. Fire gutted the cupola and third floor on May 11, 1988. The $8 million restoration took five years. The museum reopened in 1994, displaying exhibits from colonial settlement through Reconstruction. Napoleon's death mask is on display — one of only four authenticated copies in existence. The building stands along Jackson Square, adjacent to St. Louis Cathedral. In 1960, it was declared a National Historic Landmark. Open Tuesday through Sunday, 10am to 4:30pm. Admission charged; a combo ticket with the Presbytère is available. Three courtrooms across a century and a half. The room where Spanish authority ended. The courtroom that made separate-but-equal constitutional doctrine. The building an artist refused to let the city tear down.