Glass dome
The central hall.
Carlos Figueroa Rojas — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Carlos Figueroa Rojas — CC BY-SA 4.0 · SebasGZ — CC BY-SA 3.0
One of Latin America's oldest art museums, founded in 1880 and housed since 1910 in a grand neoclassical palace designed by architect Emilio Jéquier for the centenary of Chilean independence, in the heart of Parque Forestal by the Mapocho River. The building's finest feature is its vast central hall under a glass-and-iron dome that floods it with natural light, ringed by two levels of galleries. Its façade is adorned with columns and reliefs, fronted by gardens and shady trees. Its rooms display a large collection of Chilean art from the nineteenth century to today, paintings, sculpture and drawings, plus temporary exhibitions of local and international artists. The back of the same building houses the Museum of Contemporary Art. Entry is free, as at most Chilean state museums, and it usually closes on Mondays. Visitors combine it with a stroll in Parque Forestal and nearby Barrio Lastarria.
The central hall.
Two centuries.
A riverside stroll.
Parque Forestal, central Santiago
Cerro Santa LucíaA small rocky hill in central Santiago, called Huelén in Mapudungun, at whose fo7 minutes walk4.5
Barrio BellavistaAn artsy, bohemian district at the foot of Cerro San Cristóbal, with quiet stree8 minutes walk
Plaza de ArmasSantiago's heart since its founding in 1541, when the Spanish captain Pedro de V9 minutes walk4.3
La Chascona, Neruda's HouseThe house of the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, winner of the 1971 Nobel Prize in Li12 minutes walk4.7
La Moneda PalaceChile's presidential seat, a broad white neoclassical palace designed by the Ita16 minutes walk4.7Yes, like most Chilean state museums, and it usually closes on Mondays.