Qualla: Palace of the Governors https://qualla.com/palace-of-the-governors en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:04 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/9/w/k/e/palace-of-the-governors-wp/palace-governors-santa.jpg Qualla: Palace of the Governors https://qualla.com/palace-of-the-governors Palace of the Governors: Introduction https://qualla.com/palace-of-the-governors/ Photo credit Anmaru, CC BY-SA 3.0. One spring night in 1879, territorial governor Lew Wallace sat in the shuttered study of the Palace of the Governors, writing by lamplight. He had just returned from a tense meeting with Billy the Kid in Lincoln County, and he feared a bullet through the window. Outside, a thunderstorm hammered the old adobe walls. Inside, Wallace was composing the climactic crucifixion scenes of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. It is exactly the kind of story this building collects -- improbable, layered, spanning centuries. The Palace has housed Spanish conquistadors, Pueblo revolutionaries, Mexican officials, and American territorial governors. It has been a seat of power since before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth.

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Image: Anmaru | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/w/k/e/palace-of-the-governors-wp/9wke-palace-of-the-governors-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Palace of the Governors: An Empire's Northern Outpost https://qualla.com/palace-of-the-governors/ Photo credit Asaavedra32, CC BY-SA 3.0. Pedro de Peralta, the newly appointed governor of Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico, began construction of the Palace around 1610, though some historians place the start closer to 1618. The building anchored Spain's administrative control over a territory that once encompassed present-day...

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Image: Asaavedra32 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/w/k/e/palace-of-the-governors-wp/9wke-palace-of-the-governors-an-empires-northern-outpost.mp3 0:06 2 full Palace of the Governors: The Building That Changed Hands https://qualla.com/palace-of-the-governors/ Photo credit Chris Light, CC BY-SA 4.0. No building in America has served so many masters. In 1680, the Pueblo Revolt drove the Spanish out of New Mexico entirely, and the Pueblo peoples governed from the Palace for twelve years. The Spanish returned in 1692 under Diego de Vargas. After Mexican independence in 1821, th...

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Image: Chris Light | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/w/k/e/palace-of-the-governors-wp/9wke-palace-of-the-governors-the-building-that-changed-hands.mp3 0:06 3 full Palace of the Governors: Fitted Into the Color of Earth and Sky https://qualla.com/palace-of-the-governors/ Photo credit Leonard J. DeFrancisci, CC BY-SA 3.0. By 1909, the Palace had fallen into serious disrepair. Anthropologist Edgar Lee Hewett recruited young archaeologist Jesse L. Nusbaum to oversee its restoration. Nusbaum, who would become the first employee of what evolved into the School of American Research, approached the work...

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Image: Leonard J. DeFrancisci | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/w/k/e/palace-of-the-governors-wp/9wke-palace-of-the-governors-fitted-into-the-color-of-earth-and-sky.mp3 0:06 4 full Palace of the Governors: Still Standing on the Plaza https://qualla.com/palace-of-the-governors/ Photo credit Carol Auld, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 2009, the New Mexico History Museum opened adjacent to the Palace, absorbing its museum functions into a larger campus. The Palace itself remains one of eight museums overseen by the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. Under its portal -- that long covered porch facing ...

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Image: Carol Auld | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/w/k/e/palace-of-the-governors-wp/9wke-palace-of-the-governors-still-standing-on-the-plaza.mp3 0:06 5 full