House of Tin

One of the big highlights in Cochabamba is Baron Simon Patino's house, aka. manison. And it truly lived up to the stories I had heard. It was one of our last stops on this great adventure but it was still amazing.

Simon Patino was, at the turn of the century, one of the richest men in the world, owning more than 60% of the world's tin mines. He was born in Cochabamba, but worked and lived all over the world. It had always been a dream of his to return to Cochabamba. In 1913, he began building a home in Cochabamba. They spent 12 years building the house but Patino died before the house was complete and they could move into it. The family never lived in the house and it was given to the city by the family. It is an amazing house full of European, Spanish, and Bolivian influences. The grounds are just as beautiful and the city does an amazing job of keeping it up and using it for concerts, a library, etc.

The house was just beautiful and sits right in the middle of town.

There we tons of greek characters represented throughout the gardens and the house.

When the towns people saw these HUGE doors being installed they nicknamed the house "The House of Doors". Jordan gives you an idea of just how big these doors are. Most of the materials for the house were imported from Spain. While the artist and craftsman came from Italy. All the marble inside is Italian but the beautiful carved wood pieces are from France. I am so sorry there are no inside pictures of the house. No pictures are allowed. But trust me, it was beautiful. Ceilings painted, huge marble mantles, and carved wood modeled after the Vatican.

Beautiful gardens. It is really hard to believe you are in the middle of a huge city when you are sitting here enjoying these gardens.