Palacio Cousino, Santiago, Metropolitan Region, Chile (Photo by: Insights/UIG via Getty Images)

UIG via Getty Images

Palacio Cousiño

Santiago

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'Flaunt it' seems to have been the main idea behind the shockingly lavish Palacio Cousiño. It was built between 1870 and 1878 by the prominent Cousiño-Goyenechea family after they'd amassed a huge fortune from winemaking and coal and silver mining, and it's a fascinating glimpse of how Chile's 19th-century elite lived.

Carrara-marble columns, a half-tonne Bohemian crystal chandelier, Chinese cherrywood furniture, solid-gold cutlery and the first electrical fittings in Chile are just some of the ways they found to fritter away their fortune.

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