Coconut Palace, also known as Tahanang Filipino, which means "Philippine House," is the official residence and the main workplace of the country's vice president. It is located on the grounds of the Cultural Centre of the Philippines in the Manila suburb of Pasay. Its was built to coincide with the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1981. However, the head of the Catholic world rejected the residence, saying, that it would be too pretentious to be housed in a palace while most of the Philippines' people are living in poverty. Later, architect Francisco Manoza said the construction of the Coconut Palace was planned long before the Pope's Pope's decision to visit the country.
The Coconut Palace was built in 1978 using several types of Philippine Philippine wood, coconut shells, and specially engineered coconut lumber. Each of the seven second-floor guest rooms is named in honour of a of a Philippine region and contains several handcrafted items made in that region. For example, in the Pampanga room, you can see a statue, made from lahar, a debris flow from Mount Pinatubo. The Marawi Room represents the Muslim island of Mindanao, while the Mountain Province Room houses local aboriginal artefacts. Before becoming the official residence of the country's vice president, the palace was known as a venue for wedding ceremonies.
The palace building is octagonal in shape, and the roof is designed in the form of a of the traditional Filipino salakot hat. A distinctive feature of the palace's interior decoration is the candelabra made of 101 coconut shells, and a dining table made of 40,000 tiny pieces of inlaid coconut shells. Today, the Coconut Palace is considered to be one of the most amazing structures of the Cultural Centre of the Philippines because of its architecture and interiors. And its name reflects the Filipinos' belief that the coconut is the true tree of life. The design, form and decoration of the palace all the elements of the coconut - from the roots to the trunk, bark, fruit, flowers and shell. Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi, Hollywood stars and other famous people have stayed in this building over the years. Gaddafi, Hollywood actress Brooke Shields and American actor and film director George Hamilton.
