Vrijburgh, the Palace of Freiburg or Palace of the Towers

The Palace of Freiburg (in Dutch Vrijburg), also known as Palace of the Towers and Palace of the Two Towers, was an official residence built by Count João Maurício de Nassaubetween 1640 and 1642 in the then Mauritsstad, capital of the Dutch colony of New Holland — current city do Recife, capital of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco — which existed until the second half of the 18th century, when it was demolished due to damage caused during the Pernambuco Insurrection. When it was built, it was the most monumental structure in Brazil. The palace complex had an astronomical observatory, the first in the Southern Hemisphere. It also housed a lighthouse and the first zoobotanical garden in the Americas.