Cultural Santiago

Tour Description

Chile has rich and varied history and there is no better place to discover it than in three of Santiago’s museums. 

Our first stop will be the Pre-Colombian Art Museum near the Plaza de Armas which chronicles around 4,500 years of Central and South American civilizations before the arrival of the Spanish in 1492.  Here you can see artwork, statues, jewellery and ceramics from a variety of indigenous cultures, including the ancient Chinchorro mummies from northern Chile, which are 2,000 years older than the Egyptian equivalent.

Continuing on our journey through Chilean history, our next visit will be to the Colonial Museum and, next door, the Church of St Francis, Santiago’s oldest surviving colonial building.  The church’s foundation stone was laid in 1572 but it was not finished until 1618.  Since then, parts of it have been re-built after earthquake damage but it has mainly survived in its original state.  The museum displays amongst other things a collection of colonial religious paintings, silverwork, and a replica of Gabriela Mistral’s Nobel Literature medal, which she was awarded in 1945.

We will then drive south of the centre to the Cousiño Palace, one of Santiago’s most spectacular mansions.  Dating from 1871, this palace was built by the wealthy Cousiño-Goyenechea family, who made their fortune from wine-making and coal and silver mining.  It is full of beautiful furniture and artwork which was brought over from France in the family’s cargo ships.  Opened as a museum in 1977, it was declared a National Monument in 1981.  Descendants of the family still own the Cousiño Macul vineyards today.

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