Built between 1898 and 1905, the Palais de Lomé, formerly known as Palais des Gouverneurs, was the seat of the governor during the German colonial era. It was the largest and most imposing governor's palace in the German colonial empire. After the German colonial period, it continued to serve as the seat of government for the French colonial administration and then for the government of Togo, which became independent in 1960. In the 1990s, the seat of the Togolese government was relocated to other buildings, abandoning the Lomé Palace, which subsequently nealy fell into ruin due to neglect. In 2019, it was renovated and rehabilitated and transformed into a cultural centre accessible to all and offering space to artists for exhibitions. Togolese political actors now wish to see the palace as a "symbol of a shared heritage" that should improve political and cultural relations between the once colonisers and the once colonised.