A2Z Languages - Santiago, Chile - City Guide

Attractions

Plaza de Armas (Arms Square)

Santiago Spanish Immersion Programs Since colonial times, Santiago’s focus has been its main square, the Plaza de Armas, in the heart of the old town. Surrounded by the grandest of the city’s surviving Spanish public buildings, it acts as a haven from Santiago’s often oppressive traffic. Local artists come here to sell their latest canvasses and although visitors are unlikely to pick up an undiscovered masterpiece, it is a good spot for an atmospheric outdoor drink. The square’s western side is taken up entirely by the Metropolitan Cathedral, built in the mid-18th century, with the later addition of its two bell towers in the early 19th century. Near the cathedral, occupying the northwest corner of the square, is the Correos Central (central post office). This ornate wedding-cake-style building was once the palace of Chile’s colonial governors and then, after independence, the residence of heads of state until the mid-19th century. But the square is most notable as the home of a thriving Santiago institution – on weekday evenings, trestle tables are set up along the east side of the square and dozens of passers-by pit their wits against each other in fiercely contested chess matches. Another well-attended attraction is the weekly outdoor concert performed by the Santiago police band on Sunday mornings.

Palacio de la Moneda (Moneda Palace)

The bombing of Moneda Palace by air force jets during General Augusto Pinochet’s coup against Salvador Allende’s Socialist government in 1973 is one of the 20th century’s most enduring images. It was in this colonial building that Allende finally took his own life, with a gun given to him, according to local legend, by Fidel Castro. Built in 1805, during the last days of Spanish rule, it serves as the official seat of Chilean government and was the residence of choice for a number of heads of state. Pinochet himself, however, set up home at the Diego Portales building near the Santa Lucia Hill. The palace is not open to visitors but its ornate façade is worth a close look for the patched up but still visible bullet holes from Allende’s last stand..

Casa Colorada (Coloured House)

This elegant 18th-century colonial mansion just off the Plaza de Armas is an attraction in itself. However it also houses the Museo de Santiago (Santiago Museum), which gives comprehensive coverage of the city’s history from pre-Colombian times to the founding of Chile as an independent republic.

Museo Casa La Chascona (La Chascona House Museum)

Nobel-Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda’s Santiago pied à terre, La Chascona, is situated in the lively Bellavista neighbourhood. It has been meticulously restored since it was vandalised by supporters of General Pinochet and now houses a collection of Neruda’s possessions.

Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino (Chilean Museum of Pre-Colombian Art)

The Museum of Pre-Colombian Art houses a collection to rival any in the world. Located in a handsome colonial building, the Palacio de la Real Aduana (Royal Customs House), it treats visitors to an endearing display of artefacts from Latin America’s pre-Hispanic civilisations. Tastefully presented and meticulously cared for, the items on show give a unique insight into the lost cultures of the Mayans, Aztecs, Incas and many other groups which once dominated this vast continent.

Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts)

This fine arts museum, housed in a turn-of-the-century copy of Paris’ Petit Palais, evokes the city’s aspirations to lift itself out of the cultural wilderness. It occupies an entire block in the Parque Forestal area, the city’s most ‘European’ neighbourhood, which is rapidly becoming Santiago’s main red-light district with its elegance fading fast. Nevertheless, the country’s best collection of painting and sculpture is on display here and it regularly hosts exhibitions by contemporary artists from Chile and abroad.

Iglesia de San Francisco (Church of San Francisco)

Hemmed in by the hellish traffic along Avenida Bernardo O’Higgins, the Church of San Francisco and its adjacent Franciscan Monastery are a welcome island of serenity. The church was originally built in the late 16th century by Chile’s conquistador, Pedro de Valdivia, although regular earthquakes ensured little of the original structure remains. What can be seen, however, is still one of Santiago’s oldest buildings and the monastery houses an interesting collection of ecclesiastical art from the colonial era.

Santiago Parks

Santiago’s most attractive feature is its four huge parks that offer spectacular views of the Andes, as well as welcome respite from the city’s traffic. All the following parks are open from dawn to dusk. The landscaped hill, Cerro Santa Lucia, to the east of the Downtown area was where Araucanian Indians besieged Santiago’s original Spanish settlers for two years, before reinforcements arrived from Peru. Now under siege by urban sprawl, it is popular among courting couples by day and a notorious gay pick-up spot by night. From its summit there are uninterrupted views of the Andes, and the tree-lined avenues around its slopes are good for walking or jogging.

Cerro San Cristobal

A pine-forested spur of the Andes that juts into the city’s heart, and Santiago’s largest open space. At its summit, a 36m-high (120ft) white statue of the Virgin Mary dominates the horizon. This is where, in 1987, Pope John Paul II held mass to celebrate his only visit to Chile (much criticised because of the Pinochet regime’s human rights record). Its forested slopes are crisscrossed by hiking trails, and facilities include a public barbecue area, two outdoor swimming pools and a modest zoo. The summit can be reached by road from the bottom of Calle Pedro de Valdivia or by the funicular railway that leaves from the terminal on Calle Pio Nono in the Bellavista area.

Parque Quinta Norma

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Santiago’s beautiful people would come to Parque Quinta Normal for a promenade. However, the well heeled have left the area for good and a solidly working-class district now surrounds this leafy park. It nevertheless retains a peaceful Mediterranean feel and is a good place to take a stroll while waiting for a train at the nearby Estacion Central. The park also provides the setting for some rather neglected attractions, including the Natural History and Aeronautical museums, both of which have seen better days. The former houses a collection of fossils, most of which were found within Chile’s borders, while within a colourful pavilion-like building designed for the Paris Exhibition of 1889, the Aeronautical Museum puts a Chilean slant on the history of aviation. Parque O’Higgins, also a one-time preserve of Santiago’s elite, nowadays attracts visitors from more modest echelons of society. Within its confines is an amusement park and a cultural museum dedicated to Chile’s rural communities.

Mercado Central (Central Market)

A wrought-iron structure – shipped out piece by piece from England in the 19th century – is home to Santiago’s Central Market, on the south bank of the Mapocho River. Although this impressive building still has a fish market, it has become an unashamed tourist trap full of overpriced ‘rustic’ restaurants. It retains much of its atmosphere, however, and is a good spot to buy an empanada or a cheap bottle of wine.