Cultural Santiago
Do you Want to Know Santiago?
"Santiago de Chile beats shaking in their colorful urban geography, traditional neighborhoods dotted with enticing to the nostalgia and modern buildings of lines drawn art of the future.
At present, Santiago de Chile has become a modern city of over 6 million inhabitants, which focuses much of the cultural, economic, industrial and commercial country.
In the central area of Santiago de Chile is located the old buildings, the headquarters of the most important institutions, outstanding museums and monuments, which represent much of the city and country. Also, the main and most important hotels Chile."(visitingchile, 2006)
The limits of this commune are:
North: Mapocho River
South: Alameda
East: Cerro Santa Lucia
West: Avenue Norte Sur
Until today, the center of Santiago has a checkerboard pattern, given by Pedro de Valdivia.
In the center of Santiago there are colonial constructions like buildings of different styles, reflecting different eras and influences: the baroque classic, the French influence of the nineteenth century, buildings erected in the first decade of the twentieth century and the most recent high scale and modern technical advances.
Plaza de Armas of Santiago
It is considered the heart of Santiago and the country since its foundation. Pedro de Valdivia, in founding the city of Santiago in 1541, started by drawing the square. Destinated on the west side the church and civil government to the north.
The square was an empty space where he built a fortified enclosure at night to save the arms (hence the name) and shelter soldiers, women and childs, dogs and other pets in case of danger. in the center there was a pond for the public water supply, the rest of the square was left for military exercises and parades, bull fights, sword duels, religious festivals, processions and trade. Also, there was a pole where they hung the executed.
In the late nineteenth century, the landscaper G. Renner design gardens with inviting walking paths. In 1999, it was redesigned by the architect José Pérez de Arce and took their physiognomy: seats, trees and gardens at the eastern sector, while the west and north he enabled a place for popular demonstrations.
When touring the Plaza de Armas we can apreciate:
-Monument to the indigenous people.
-Monument to the freedom of america.
-Statue of Pedro de Valdivia.
-Sculpture of Cardinal José María Caro (first Chilean Cardinal).
-Santiago's Cathedral.
-Post Office.
-National Historical Museum.
-Municipality of Santiago.
Some wonders of the Plaza de Armas
| "Monument to the Indigenous People". Courtesy of Josefina Ovalle. | "Municipality of Santiago". Courtesy of Josefina Ovalle. | "Santiago's Cathedral". Courtesy of Josefina Ovalle. |
Cerro Santa Lucia & National Library
Located in the Cerro Santa Lucia in Santiago there is a monument consisting of a stone carved with 2 meters of a paragraph extracted from the text of the letter sent from Pedro de Valdivia to Emperor Charles V in 1545, describing the benefits of the new land conquered.
The National Library of Chile is one of the oldest in Latin America and one of the first republican institutions of the country.
The mission of the National Library of Chile is to collect, preserve and disseminate the various library materials, print and other media that are part of the national collective memory, to enable access to information and knowledge contained in their collections to all remote users face and the national and international communities that need it.
Plaza de la Constitución
The square and it's surroundings, since 1930 are part of the civic district. What draws the attention of the Palacio de la Moneda is that it is a classical baroque building erected during the colonial period, the most important in the country for it's symbolism and aesthetic quality. The palace and the square are surrounded by public buildings built in the years 1930, forming a harmonious whole.
What we can see in the Plaza de la Constitución and it's surroundings:
-Statues of: Diego Portales, Eduardo Frei Montalvo, Jorge Alessandri Rodriguez, Salvador Allende and Arturo Alessandrini Palma.
-Ministry of Exterior Relations.
-Ministry of Finance.
-Ministry of Justice.
-Intendance building.
-Nueva Plaza Bicentenario
-Palacio de la Moneda
Pictures Around the Plaza de la Consitución
| "Intendencia de Santiago". Courtesy of Josefina Ovalle. | "Statue of Arturo Alessandri and in the back The Palacio de la Moneda". Courtesy of Josefina Ovalle. |
Municipal Theatre & The Alhambra Palace
For its size, beauty and good acoustics, concerts are held currently in the Board Claudio Arrau, with capacity for 250 spectators and was inaugurated personally by the remarkable pianist Chile, during his visit to Chile in May 1984. Previously, it was called Philharmonic Hall.
On the second floor there are located numerous workshops in sculpture, painting and utility, which "form" the opera and ballet. Municipal Theater productions enjoy great prestige and many of them are sold to theaters in Latin America, Europe and United States.
The palace presents the pattern of nineteenth-century Chilean casona namely enclosures surrounding two courtyards and a third joined by a service alley into the street.
The main feature of the building's decoration is based on repetition of formal elements of the Alhambra in Granada, and carried out in a plasterwork. The features are all made with horseshoe arches very slender.
The main entrance is through a hallway that leads to the first courtyard. The second courtyard has a "Fountain of the Lions' faithful copy of the original. Between the two courtyards is a highly decorated interior room entrance, whose hierarchy is produced abroad, and it's access to the two courtyards that are framed in porches with slender columns.
