This new Governor’s House (Casa dos Governadores) was finished in 1743 in a plain Baroque style and, except for some details, had the same appearance as the building that exists today.

The whole area beside the Governors’s House was also remodelled by Pinto Alpoim and turned into a spacious square (known today as Praça XV) including a marble fountain brought from Lisbon.

Around this period, the square beside the Palace gained a stone harborside quay and a new fountain (Fonte de Mestre Valentim) which still exists today.

On 9 January 1822, Pedro I announced from one of the balconies of the Palace facing the square that he would refuse Portuguese orders and remain on in an independent Brazil (the so-called Dia do Fico).

During 1888 in one of the Palace chambers, Pedro II's daughter Princess Isabel, acting as regent, signed the famous Lei Áurea, which definitively banned slavery from Brazil.

With the establishment of the Republic of Brazil in 1889, the Paço Imperial lost its former importance and was converted into the central Mail Office for Rio de Janeiro.

Since 1984 the Paço Imperial has been an important cultural center, hosting temporary art exhibitions of painting, sculpture, cinema, music, etc.