Cabildo – Centro Cultural de la República y Palacio Legislativo

With its façade of arches and columns on Avenida República, the Cabildo is one of downtown's most elegant buildings. It serves as the cultural arm of Congress: its galleries display Indigenous, folk and urban art, religious carvings from the Jesuit and Franciscan missions, objects from the building's political history, and a room devoted to Paraguayan music, including a guitar that belonged to Agustín Pío Barrios. Next door stands the Legislative Palace, home of Congress, which incorporates the old façade of a Jesuit college. From the esplanade you can see the bay and the Costanera.

It was built under Carlos Antonio López to a design by Pascual Urdapilleta and inaugurated on March 14, 1857; until 1894 it housed all three branches of government, and afterward it was the seat of Congress. On May 14, 2004, it became the Cultural Center of the Republic. A fire damaged its rear section on December 25, 2020; restoration was completed in May 2023.