Yvatyhũ Mansion

Yvatyhũ Palace is located on the top of Yvatyhũ Hill in Pirami’s Yvatyhũ Park, serving as the office and residence for the President of Ta’aroha. The palatial mansion is known officially as the Ogatetã (House of State). The name Yvatyhũ is Kanasa for “black hill”. The palace has such unparalleled views and terraces that Eduran businessman Antony van der Pol wrote that, “they cannot be surpassed in beauty in any part of the world.” It is located at the entrance to Yvatyhũ Park several hundred meters above sea level. The site of the hill was a sacred place in the time of the Aunayic Empire, and the buildings atop it have served several purposes during its history. These include that of a fort, observatory, military academy, Imperial residence, museum, and lastly, Presidential residence.

The palace was built during the time of the Duchy of Jasy in the year 1741 as a summer home for the Duke. However, it underwent extensive remodeling after its conquest in 1821 by Kauane, Ta’aroha’s first Minister-Chancellor. It was given various uses, from an arsenal to a military academy in 1842. It became the official residence of Minister-Chancellor Hekopete, Ta’aroha’s third Minister-Chancellor, in 1887. With few exceptions, all succeeding leaders of Ta’aroha have lived there since. The building also houses a museum, which contains objects related to former leaders of the country, and has been declared a National Historic Monument.

History
In 1741, Duke Tape of the Duchy of Jasy ordered the construction of a stately home for himself at the highest point of Yvatyhũ Hill. Apytu Kamby, an Lieutenant-Colonel in the Jaysic Army and an Eduran-educated engineer and architect, drew up the blueprints and began construction that year. After Kamby’s death, Captain Rete Jasypoapy took over leadership of the project. During his tenure the works proceeded at a rapid pace. Duke Tape died suddenly in 1742, fueling speculation that he was poisoned by his son. No evidence was ever officially found supporting this claim, however. Following the Duke’s death, his successor made some minor changes to the structure’s design, before it was ultimately finished in 1793. The palace was used as a summer home for the Jaysic ruling family for the following decades, leading up to the Second Jaysic War and its conquest by the forces of Kauane II, then Duke of neighboring Arandu.

During the Siege of Pirami in 1820, the palace was garrisoned largely by civilian militia as defenders. Despite a relative lack of experienced troops, the palace’s defenders fiercely defended the hill, inflicting a high number of casualties on attacking forces. Kauane himself is said to have overseen the assault at one point, taken both by the palace’s strategic location and the dedication of the civilians who had taken up arms in its defense. Particularly, a group of teenage boys defending the palace’s main balcony won his admiration, to such an extent that during his later remodeling of the palace that he ordered statues be erected in their honor. After the palace and the city alike had been successfully taken, it was the site of the Ta’aroha Declaration by Kauane in 1821, officially proclaiming the new nation of Ta’aroha in its modern glory.

Ta’arohan period
The palace was converted into an arsenal by Kauane’s orders due to its strategic location overlooking Pirami - the city he’d chosen as the capital for the burgeoning nation. A sequence of several structural modifications was undertaken, including the addition of the watchtower nicknamed “the Tall Demon”, or Jagua Guasu. In 1840, he ordered it be converted instead into a Military Academy, where the nation’s next generation of top-ranking officers would be trained. More additions were added on to the structure to facilitate its new purpose, delayed following the death of Kauane and periodic economic recessions.

The next major change to the structure came in 1887, when Minister-Chancellor Téra Hekopete declared that the structure would instead serve as the official residence for Ta’arohan heads of state. He hired several Eduran and Ta’arohan architects to renovate the structure once more, among them Josep Wit, Willem Blauw, Amelia Oranje, Nepu’ã Kove, and Mano Haku. The architects designed several projects, following largely an Eduran style and making the structure back into a palace, more habitable as a residence for a head of state. Eduran botanist Engelina Vissier was placed in charge of creating the rooftop garden on the palace; additionally, the Minister-Chancellor brought from Alutra and elsewhere countless pieces of furniture, pieces of art, and other fine household items that are displayed to this day.

As the structure was on the outskirts of Pirami at this time, Hekopete ordered the construction of a straight boulevard (modeled after the great boulevards of Alutra, particularly Edury) to connect the residence to the city center. He named the new boulevard Tavakuairetã Tape (Way of the Republic) in honor of the people and nation of Ta’aroha. At the start of the Summer War in the next century, the boulevard was renamed temporarily to Mboeñõi Tape (Way of Rebirth), but the name was changed back following the war’s end. In 1897, Minister-Chancellor Hetũ Kokue established a part of the residence as a National Astronomical, Meteorological, and Magnetic Observatory as part of his campaign to foster the sciences within the republic.

The palace underwent several structural changes during the rule of Kokue. It remained the executive mansion until the time of the Summer War, when Minister-Chancellor Ubirata was assassinated in a coup that placed a military junta in charge of the nation. During this period, the palace was used as an official guest house or residence for foreign dignitaries and ambassadors. Finally, in early 1999, newly-elected President Ánga Tapere decreed that the site would again serve as the executive manor, as well as decreeing the establishing of a National Museum of Archeology, History, and Ethnography in a portion of the complex. The museum was opened five years later, open to the public.

Rooms
The President sits at their office on a seat known as the “Seat of Kauane”. The seat itself did not actually belong to Kauane, the first Minister-Chancellor of Ta’aroha, but is instead an homage to the early statesman.

The Hall of Portraits houses the official portraits of the many Minister-Chancellors and Presidents of Ta’aroha, painted by diverse artists of Ta’arohan and foreign heritage. The hall does not contain a portrait of every Ta’arohan leader, however, as it does not feature Minister-Chancellor Ubirata, or any of the de facto military junta leaders from the time following the Summer War. Currently, a portrait can be found for every Ta’arohan Minister-Chancellor and President, excluding Ubirata.