The palace was built in the early eighteenth century and is one of the best examples of Portuguese colonial-period civil architecture in Brazil.

IPHAN transferred ownership of the palace to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of São Salvador da Bahia in 2011.

[4][5][1] Ownership of the palace was passed to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of São Salvador da Bahia in March 2011, which then negotiated with the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute on the future use of the structure.

[6] The art historian Germain Bazin described the palace as a "great cube of masonry decorated with an elegant door.

The entrance is marked by a portal in Lioz stone decorated with a coat of arms flanked by stylized scrolls.

The coat of arms is that of Sebastião Monteiro da Vide, archbishop of Salvador at the time of the construction of the building.

[5][2][3] The Cultural Center of the Palácio da Sé (Portuguese: Centro Cultural Palácio da Sé) has a permanent exhibit on the first floor called "The Church and the Formation of Brazil" (Portuguese: A Igreja e a formação do Brasil), which consists of historical artifacts owned by the Archdiocese of São Salvador.