Official governor’s residence in Gibraltar, former sixteenth-century Franciscan convent.
The Convent is the official residence of the Governor of Gibraltar and stands at the southern end of Main Street. Completed in 1531 as a Franciscan convent, it became the governor’s residence in 1728. Its dining room holds the Commonwealth’s largest heraldic display of flags and arms.
The Convent is the official residence of the Governor of Gibraltar and an important historic building on Main Street, Gibraltar. Originally completed in 1531 as a Franciscan convent, it later became the governor’s residence in 1728 and has remained so. The building was extensively rebuilt in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in a mainly Georgian architectural style with Victorian elements. The Convent stands at the southern end of Main Street. A guard post at the main entrance is manned by soldiers of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment, who mount guard several times a week. Several times a year a full Changing of the Guard ceremony takes place outside the residence. The former monastic complex included what is now the King’s Chapel, a garrison church immediately adjacent to The Convent and originally part of the Franciscan buildings. During the reign of Queen Victoria it was renamed Queen’s Chapel, and under Queen Elizabeth II its earlier name, King’s Chapel, was restored. Inside The Convent, the dining room contains the most extensive heraldic collection in the Commonwealth of Nations, with a wide display linked to coats of arms and flags, underlining the building’s ceremonial and symbolic role within Gibraltar.
