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One of the most powerful families in Angra during the 17th century, the Bettencourt, commissioned the Palace as a private residence; it has been turned into the Public Library and Regional Archive of the Azores. The Palace Bettencourt has a baroque façade embellished by a portico consisting of two Salomonic columns that end in composed capitals and an epistyle. Upon the portico, and within a big console, the coat of arms of the Bettencourt family, shows the quality of the stone work from the Region.
The building dates from the end of the 17th century, and it is placed among an ensemble of huge family seats, among which the Palace of the Bishop can be seen, in the Rua da Rosa, at the rear part of the Cathedral Sé.
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