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| Outside of National History Museum
The Nacional History Museum was founded in 1911 in the Placacio de la Real Audiencia. The rooms are organized chronologically. There is a small section on pre-columbian Chile, and then the museum focuses on the conquest, colonial life, independence, and political upheaval. The displays end abruptly in 1973, with Allende's smashed glasses found after his suicide. Apparently, dealing with the Pinochet regime is too controversial...
However, there was a wonderful temporary exhibit entitled Efemerides [Fragmentos selects de la historia reciente de Chile] (Selected segments of recent Chilean History). It consisted of very modern pieces and interpretations, which were interspersed with the permanent collection. As well there was a separate room that contained a number of these recent pieces.
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| Poster for Temporary Exhibit: Efemerides [fragmentos selectos de la historia reciente de chile] |
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| Traditional exhibit (early 1800s) |
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| Knit piece by Magdalena Atria (Investidura 2013) with traditional display |
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| Adolfo Martinez Avarca: El Zapato y el Chuico, 2011 |
The 1818 flag of independence was displayed in a room with Chile's first national symbols. The Museum brochure noted that the flag was stolen in 1980 by the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) and returned to the museum in 2003.
The temporary exhibit was very interesting. In the next photo a modern piece of china was interspersed with museum artifacts.
The blender, which rotated, was also exhibited with an older piece.
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| Jorge Cabieses-Valdes Dead Ringers 2013
As part of the temporary exhibit, there was a small flag with symbols representing aspects of Chilean history in each room of the museum.
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In the final room, there were a number of photos from the early 1970s, including one of Pablo Neruda and his wife, Matilde Urrutia at a December 1972 celebration at the National Stadium for Neruda's receipt of the Nobel Prize for Literature.
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| Pablo Neruda and Matilde Urrutia December 1972
The final vitrine contained a picture of part of President Salvador Allende's glasses that were found after his suicide. The real glasses were out for conservation!
The National History Museum was well worth visiting for an overview of Chile's fascinating history. The Visitor's Guide definitely had a conservative approach and the museum could use a technological refresh. At some point, Chile's history post 1973 needs to be addressed in this museum. However, the temporary exhibits, with definite references to the dictatorship, was a interesting counterpoint to the permanent collection.
We took this last photo of the courtyard of the museum.
Museum courtyard
After our visit to the National History Museum, we stopped for lunch at the small outdoor museum cafe on Lastarria Street in front of the archeological museum we had visited last week. We shared a very large salad with salmon gravlax and avocado.
salmon gravlax salad
We then started our climb of Cerro Santa Lucia (Santa Lucia Hill) located in the eastern part of central Santiago. It was a rocky hill until 19th-century city mayor Benjamin Vicuna Mackenna had it transformed into a beautifully landscaped park. A number of trails and steep stone stairs lead to the Torre Mirador at the top. There is a plaque (very worn) commemorating the visit of Charles Darwin. Darwin proclaimed the view from the top of Cerro Santa Lucia "certainly most striking" in 1833.
Chatting at the bottom of Cerro Santa Lucia
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View from the top 
Me too!
Just as we were leaving the top, we saw the Darwin commemorative plaque.
A bit hard to read, but he was there
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We headed down the other side of the hill and took a photo of the grand entrance.
Since we were only a few blocks from the Gabriela Mistral Cultural Centre, we stopped by.
We got a good photo of the adjacent tall building that had been occupied by the Pinochet dictatorship and then the Ministry of National Defence.
There are a number of beautiful murals that are part of the Cultural Centre. This part of the mural is a call for free education.
We then went to Wonderful coffee shop for a coffee and cake (for Alano) and a raspberry drink for me.
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| A Santiago favourite- raspberry drink |
The final photo of our visit to Santiago is the cast iron stray dogs trying to get into the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. We had taken a picture of the dogs inside the Museo last week during our visit there. We subsequently noticed the dogs were outside too. What a wonderful piece of art!
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| Dogs outside of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Rates |
We have really enjoyed our visit to Santiago and have no hesitation recommending it to other travellers. The next post will be from Valparaiso, the legislative capital of Chile since 1990 and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
You never disappoint with your posts. They are always so educational and entertaining. They are wonderful - like the coffee. Thanks for sharing.
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