The Cabildo of the Louisiana State Museum facing Jackson Square on the uptown side of the St. Louis Cathedral is the statehouse from which the Spanish governing body, the Very Illustrious Cabildo, ruled Louisiana. First called the Casa Capitular (capitol house), it was given the name of the Spanish congress after Americans took possession.
The structure, third on the site, dates from 1799. It was in this building that formal transfers of the province from Spain to France occurred on Nov. 30, 1803, and from France to the United States less than a month later.
The Cabildo currently houses exhibits portraying the history and culture of Louisiana from European settlement through Reconstruction.