Across the face of St. Louis Cathedral, the Presbytère mirrors the Cabildo, completing the formal symmetry of Jackson Square's most historic elevation. Construction began in 1791 on the site of the original priest's house — presbytère in French — and the building was not completed until 1813, after passing through French and then American hands during the chaotic period of the Louisiana Purchase. It served briefly as a courthouse and later became part of the Louisiana State Museum complex.
Today it houses the state's most extraordinary exhibition on Mardi Gras, a sprawling multi-floor exploration of the history, music, costumes, and social meaning of New Orleans carnival from its French colonial origins through the emergence of the Zulu and Rex parades to the extravagant Indian suits of the Mardi Gras Indians. There is also a permanent exhibition on Hurricane Katrina and the flooding of 2005, which displaced more than one million people, destroyed much of the city, and tested the resilience of a culture that had survived yellow fever epidemics, fires, economic collapses, and two centuries of political upheaval. If you want to understand New Orleans, this building holds two of the most essential keys: the joyful defiance of Mardi Gras and the scarred memory of the flood.