Palatium Dulce

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Palatium Dulce
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Palatium Dulce, the Andamonian Embassy in Paradise City
General information
Town or cityParadise City
CountryBlackhelm Confederacy
Construction started1634
Design and construction
ArchitectJulius Rainaldus

Palatium Dulce (Latin meaning "Pleasant Palace") is a palace facing onto the Platea Agonalis in Paradise City. It was built between 1634 and 1640.

Since 1915 the palace has housed the Andamonian Embassy.

History

In 1634, Brutus Domitianus, of the powerful Domitianus famly, was elected Prefectus of the city. With this election came the desire for a larger more magnificent building to reflect his family’s increased prestige. Further land was bought, the architect Julius Rainaldus received the commission and construction began in 1636. The new project was to incorporate some existing buildings, including the former palace of the Domitianus family and the neighboring Palatium Ciberi.

In 1637, the architect Francellius Barrundeus was consulted about the design and he made a series of new proposals for the palace. However, the prevailing preference was for Rainaldus’s more staid and conservative design. Barrundeus’s limited contributions included the stucco decoration of the salon (the main room) and design of the Gallery, located at first floor level between the rest of the palace and the church of St. Gratiaba next door. The Gallery extends through the width of the block with a large Serliana window at either end.

Between 1640 and 1641, the painter Petrus Corlius was commissioned to decorate the Gallery vault. His secular fresco cycle depicts scenes from the life of Aeneas, the legendary founder of Rome, as recounted by Virgil. The Domitanus family claim to be descended from Aeneas. Unlike the large spacious volume of the Palatium Balbinius the Dulce Gallery is long with a low vault which meant that a single viewpoint to see the frescoes was not possible. So Corlius devised a series of scenes around a central painted framed ‘Apotheosis of Aeneas’ into the Olympian heavens. The elaborate doorframes regularly spaced along the longer walls of the Gallery display a combination of motifs typically used by Barundeus and by Corlius

The plan has three courtyards. The rooms on the the first floor have frescoes and friezes by numerous renowned Paradisian artists of the time.

Tlacapili Residence

In 1844, the palace became the home of Emperor Cueytatzl Ren I, the exiled emperor of Andamonia, and his family. The Tlacapila family would remain in the location for nearly 70 years before returning to their homeland in 1913. They retained control over the Palatium Dulce even while still in Andamonia, however, and in 1915 the building officially became the embassy for the Empire of Andamonia in Paradise City. To this day, it stays in that capacity, serving as a vital link between the Empire and the Blackhelm Confederacy.