Imperial Palace

The Imperial Palace was the seat of power for Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith publicly known as Emperor Palpatine, during the reign of the Galactic Empire. Prior to the rise of the Empire, the Palace&mdash;located on Coruscant&mdash;was the Jedi Temple and served as the headquarters of the Jedi Order. After the fall of the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic, the Empire converted the Jedi Temple into the Imperial Palace, leaving practically only the building's towering spires intact.

Description
During the time of the Jedi Order, what was then-known as the Jedi Temple on the planet Coruscant was a massive ziggurat crowned by five spires that stood apart from the rest of its towering environment. It acted both as a school and a monastery. It contained the Jedi Archives, which were considered to be the largest source of information in the galaxy. It was here that Padawan learners studied and trained to become Jedi Knights and in the chamber of the Jedi Council, wise Jedi Masters discussed and debated important decisions, though such discussions became increasingly acrimonious as the Clone Wars progressed. Initially, the chambers of the Jedi Council were housed in one of the Temple's peripheral towers. Toward the end of the Clone Wars, a new council room had been set up at the top of the central tower.

Five years after the end of the war and the fall of the Jedi Order, the Galactic Empire had refitted the Jedi Temple into the Imperial Palace, which served as the residence of Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith and Emperor. All that remained of the original temple was its quincunx of skyscraping spires, which crowned an amalgam of blockish edifices with sloping façades. The pinnacle room of the primary spire housed the Emperor's personal quarters, while its penultimate level contained the Palace's audience chamber. Only a few areas of the former Jedi headquarters underwent no transformation. One of those was the enormous holographic galactic map located mid-level in what had been the High Council spire. The palace precinct had a courtyard landing field that was large enough to accommodate Star Destroyers of the Victory and Venator classes.

History
Originally constructed over the foundations of an ancient Sith shrine, the Jedi Temple served as a headquarters for the Jedi Order. Unbeknownst to the Jedi, the power of this shrine remained active, seeping up through the Temple and weakening the Jedi Order with the power of the dark side of the Force. During the fall of the government known as the Old Republic prior to the creation of the Galactic Republic, the Jedi Temple was sacked by warriors from Mandalore, known as Mandalorians, who stole the darksaber.

Over a thousand years later, the Jedi Temple continued to serve the Jedi Order, including during the Clone Wars. As the Jedi had taken leadership over the Grand Army of the Republic, many military affairs were conducted from within the Jedi Temple. As public sentiment began growing against the war, the Jedi Temple was bombed by Padawan Barriss Offee, who believed the Jedi only cared about violence.

At the end of the Clone Wars, Sidious&mdash;publicly known as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine&mdash;declared that the Jedi, who had attempted to arrest him after discovering he was Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith, were traitors. He issued Order 66, a command to all clone troopers to kill the Jedi. Meanwhile, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker fell to the dark side and became the Sith Lord Darth Vader, and he led clone troopers to kill all of the Jedi within the Jedi Temple. This left the Jedi Temple damaged, and the Jedi Order destroyed. Shortly thereafter, Sidious declared that the Republic was to be transformed into the Galactic Empire, with himself as Emperor. In the ensuing years, the Jedi Temple was converted into the Imperial Palace. The Emperor spent much of his time in the Imperial Palace, leaving the day-to-day governance of the Empire to his advisers.

However, some nine years later, the former Jedi Kanan Jarrus recalled that nothing of the Temple remained, and that the Empire had reduced all its brick and steel to dust. Nonetheless, the Jedi Temple remained intact after the death of Darth Sidious during the Battle of Endor.

Behind the scenes
The Jedi Temple was first introduced in the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, and became a major location in The Phantom Menace and its two sequels, Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. In 2004, the Jedi Temple was added into the ending of Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, during the final montage of planets celebrating the death of the Emperor. The novel Tarkin by James Luceno, released in 2014, revealed that the Jedi Temple was converted into the Imperial Palace. However, The Rebellion Begins by Michael Kogge, which serves as an adaptation of Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion, shows Kanan Jarrus remembering the destruction of the Jedi Temple. Whether he was referring to the Temple's refit into the Imperial Palace or if this is a continuity error has not been resolved.