Sights in Chile
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Escuela México
In response to the devastation that the quake caused, the Mexican government of President Lázaro Cárdenas donated the Escuela México to Chilĺan. At Pablo Neruda’s request, Mexican muralists David Alfaro Siqueiros and Xavier Guerrero decorated the school’s library and stairwell, respectively, with fiercely symbolic murals, now set within an otherwise normal working school.
reviewed
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Iglesia Catedral
Copiapó's mining heyday is evident throughout its town center. Shaded by century-old pepper trees, Plaza Prat is graced by several buildings from the early mining era, not least the elegant Iglesia Catedral, with its three-tiered tower, and the musty old municipal Casa de la Cultura. Watch out for the roving fortune-tellers, once they get started you'll have a hard time getting away.
reviewed
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Museo Naval y Marítimo
A naval and maritime museum with historical exhibits which include a fine account of the Chilean mission that rescued Sir Ernest Shackleton’s crew from Antarctica. The most imaginative display is a replica ship complete with bridge, maps, charts and radio room.
reviewed
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Museo Arqueológico
Some of the world’s oldest known mummies reside in the Azapa Valley’s superb Museo Arqueológico. The museum displays a large assemblage of exhibits from 7000 BC right up to the Spanish invasion, including an outdoor ‘petroglyph park’ and an enormous olive press. Well-written booklets in several languages are available to carry around the museum. No photos are allowed.
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Resguardo Marítimo
At the foot of Av Bolívar is the decrepit Muelle Salitrero (Nitrate Pier), where locals defy danger signs and fish for crabs. At the entrance to the pier is the former Resguardo Marítimo, a handsome chocolate-colored building with wooden balustrades, built in 1910. A wrought-iron passageway links it to the former Gobernación Marítima.
reviewed
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Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes
Housed in the neo-Gothic–style Palacio Vergara, the Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes has interesting collection of 17th- to 19th-century European and Chilean art that includes works by Murillo, Modigliani, Rubens and Sorolla y Bastida. Major concerts and the celebrated Festival Internacional de la Canción are held in the striking concrete amphitheater in the grounds.
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Casa de la Cultura
Copiapó's mining heyday is evident throughout its town center. Shaded by century-old pepper trees, Plaza Prat is graced by several buildings from the early mining era, such as the musty old municipal Casa de la Cultura the elegant Iglesia Catedral, with its three-tiered tower. Watch out for the roving fortune-tellers, once they get started you'll have a hard time getting away.
reviewed
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Museo San Francisco
Chillán's Museo San Francisco displays historical materials of the missionary order that, from 1585, settled in the area from Chillán in the north to Río Bueno in the south. It also includes letters from liberator Bernardo O'Higgins, who spent some of his childhood under the auspices of the Franciscan priests. The museum is in the church opposite Plaza General Lagos.
reviewed
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Museo Regional de Castro
In the process of moving to a more attractive location along the waterfront, this museum, half a block from Plaza de Armas, houses a well-organized collection of Huilliche relics, musical instruments, traditional farm implements and exhibits on the evolution of Chiloé's towns. Its B&W photographs of the 1960 earthquake help you to understand the impact of the tragic event.
reviewed
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Parque Tantauco
Among the world’s 25 biodiversity hot spots, Parque Tantauco is home to whales, otters, and foxes. For you, it might be a great off-the-beaten-track find for hiking, fly-fishing or watching wildlife. Just created in 2005, you won’t even find it on most maps. The park encompasses 1180 sq km west of Quellón, Chiloe. For more information, check out the park website.
reviewed
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Museo del Recuerdo
Pioneer days are made real again at the Patagonian Institute’s Museo del Recuerdo, part of the Universidad de Magallanes. On display are a collection of antique farm and industrial machinery, a typical pioneer house and shearing shed, and a wooden-wheeled shepherds’ trailer. The library has historical maps and a series of historical and scientific publications.
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Instituto de la Patagonia
The Patagonian Institute houses the Museo del Recuerdo, with a collection of antique farm and industrial machinery imported from Europe, a typical pioneer house and shearing shed (both reconstructed), and a wooden-wheeled trailer that served as shelter for shepherds. The library also has a display of historical maps, and a series of historical and scientific publications.
reviewed
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Plaza Matriz
Valparaíso's historic core, Plaza Matriz is directly uphill from the Mercado Central, where El Plan narrows and the distinctive architecture of the hills begins to take shape. The plaza's major landmark is the Iglesia Matriz, a national monument dating from 1842. It's the fourth church to occupy this site since the construction of the original chapel in 1559.
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Museo Ferroviario
Down route 25, on your way to the coast, is the nondescript town of Baquedano. It’s worth taking a pit stop here to visit the open-air Museo Ferroviario, with a century-old locomotive and a turn station. Get here by walking about 150m south of the town’s train station (which still operates freight trains); signs will lead the way.
reviewed
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Pintados
No less than 355 geoglyphs decorate the hills like giant pre-Colombian doodles at Pintados, 45km south of Pozo Almonte. Geometrical designs (totaling 137) include intriguing ladders, circles and arrows, and 121 depictions of humans include vivid scenes of hunting in canoes and women giving birth. Almost 100 animal figures also roam the hillsides.
reviewed
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Templo Votivo de Maipú
Set on the site of the battle where Chile finally repelled the Spanish in 1818, this impressive modern templo votivo de maipú is a replacement for the earthquake-felled original, the ruins of which you can still see today. Completed in 1974, the temple looks stark from the outside, but the huge arched ceilings and tranquility are awe-inspiring within.
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Museo de Arte Contemporáneo
Temporary exhibitions showcasing contemporary photography, design, sculpture, installations and web art are often held at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, also located inside the Palacio de Bellas Artes. Its pristine galleries are the result of extensive restoration work to reverse fire and earthquake damage. Twentieth century Chilean painting forms the bulk of the permanent collection.
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Museo Juan PaBlo Ii
Puerto Montt’s waterfront Museo Juan Pablo II has displays on natural history, archaeology, the island of Chiloé, maritime history and weapons, religious iconography, German colonization and local urbanism. Check out the gaudy bracelets from singer and ballerina, Tilda Tibau, and the prehistoric radio by Telefunken – our next band name.
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Pukará de Lasana
From Laguna Inca Coya the dirt road continues west to a junction, where you can turn north to Chiu Chiu and the 12th-century Pukará de Lasana, an extensive fortress built into the salmon-pink volcanic rock of the valley. Its husk is pockmarked with bodegas, defensive nooks and occasional petroglyphs. A touristy restaurant sits alongside.
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Casa Colorada
Few colonial houses are still standing in Santiago, but the simple, oxblood-colored Casa Colorada is a happy exception, although only the front half of the original 18th-century building has survived.
reviewed
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Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
In the park's center is the stately neoclassical Palacio de Bellas Artes, built as part of Chile's centenary celebrations in 1910. Two of Santiago's art museums, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, share the premises. The National Museum of Fine Art features an excellent permanent collection of Chilean art; look out for works by Luis Vargas Rosas, erstwhile director of the museum and a member of the Abstraction Creation group, along with fellow Chilean Roberto Matta, whose work is also well represented.
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Casa Schwerter
Notable constructions in Puerto Varas include private houses from the early 20th century. Several of these houses serve as hospedajes, including the 1941–42 Casa Schwerter. Ask at the tourist offices for the brochure Paseo Patrimonial, which suggests a walking tour of 10 different houses, or the brochure Monumentos Nacionales.
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Museo a Cielo Abierto
Some 20 colorful, if rather flaky, murals are dotted through the lower streets of Cerro Bellavista, forming the Museo a Cielo Abierto, created between 1969 and 1973 by students from the Universidad Católica’s Instituto de Arte. The Ascensor Espíritu Santo takes you from behind Plaza Victoria to the heart of this art.
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Plaza Muñoz Gamero
A central plaza of magnificent conifers surrounded by opulent mansions. Facing the plaza’s north side, The Casa Braun-Menéndez houses the private Club de la Unión, which also uses the tavern downstairs (open to the public). The nearby monument commemorating the 400th anniversary of Magellan’s voyage was donated by wool baron José Menéndez in 1920. Just east is the former Sociedad Menéndez Behety, which now houses Turismo Comapa. The cathedral sits west.
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Museo del Limarí
Housed in the right flank of the grand old train station building, the sparsely labeled Museo del Limarí houses a beautiful selection of ceramics, the majority of which are Diaguita, dating from around AD 1000 to AD 1500, and changing modern-art exhibits. There are also pieces from the earlier Huentelauquén and El Molle cultures.
reviewed