Soaking up some culture in the Chilean capital, Santiago

By Charles Thompson

The city of Santiago is known as one of the Latin American region's most business-driven centres.
Guidebooks often mention, sometimes jokingly, the seriousness and formal, businesslike dress sense of its inhabitants and the intimidating, glassy coldness of its economic powerhouses.
Travellers in Santiago always seem to be on their way somewhere else, be it the famous south or desert hot spots like San Pedro and the Elqui Valley.
However, Santiago is as much the country's cultural capital as its economic epicentre. As far as cultural attractions go, this city has plenty to offer.
What's more, many of the city's museums, historical buildings and cultural centres are conveniently located within walking distance or a short Metro ride from one another, making it perfectly possible to squeeze a few in, even the shortest stay.
To visit every one of the city's cultural attractions is a holiday on its own, but there are certain stalwarts - in no real order of importance - that have stood the test of time, the keen eye of critics and the insatiable curiosity of scores of visitors.

La Moneda Palace and the Centro Cultural de la Moneda

Once the residence of Chile's presidents, La Moneda Palace is now a cultural attraction partially open to the public.
More interesting than the palace itself, however, is the newly opened Centro Cultural de La Moneda, a slick new cultural centre below the building.
Although exhibitions change constantly, the centre houses a highly interesting, detailed permanent exhibition on the arts and crafts of native cultures from all over Chile.
Partially in English, the exhibition makes its way all along this thin stretch of land, illustrating the customs and handiwork of the country's vastly different native tribes through art, handicrafts, woodwork, jewellery and music instruments as well as video installations and photos. It's well worth a visit.

National Museum of Precolombino Art
If there's one museum in Santiago that should be visited, this is it.
With each one of its rooms dedicated to different cultures of Central and South America, the Precolombino provides deep insight into the region's rich cultural life even before the Spanish arrived.

The Precolombino houses only original sculptures, masks, jewellery, textiles and other artefacts, some dating back as far as 1000 B.C.

Look out for its small collection of mummies from Northern Chile, where, 7,000 years ago, the Chincorro tribe developed a fascinating technique to preserve human bodies after death.
By replacing the soft parts with sticks, plant material and mud, the Chincorros were able to preserve their dead for thousand of years.
The technique is 2,000 years older than the better-known Egyptian embalming method.

National Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Arts

Originally built as a single museum, the beautiful Palacio de Bellas Artes is modelled on the Parisian Petit Palais.
While many Santiaguinos scoff at the unoriginality of this building, the Bellas Artes makes for an impressive view from where it sits at the top end of the city's Parque Forestal.
These days, the building houses two museums, the National Museum of Fine Arts (MNBA) at the front and the Museum of Contemporary Arts (MAC) behind it.
Although the MNBA houses a smallish permanent exhibition, these museums run mostly on changing exhibitions by both local and international artists, working in several mediums.
Monthtly programs for the MNBA (www.mnba.cl) and MAC (www.mac.uchile.cl) are available on the web, but it's just as much fun to simply go. There's always something great on display.

Plaza de Armas

The central Plaza de Armas in downtown Santiago is in many ways the origin of the city, and an important stop on the cultural itinerary.
Some of the Plaza's most noteworthy buildings in the colonial and neo-classical styles include the National Post Office (1882), built on the stand where the city's first house was erected, Museo Histórico Nacional with a glimpse of the country's colonial history and the breathtaking Catedral Metropolitana (1745).

Quinta Normal

Parque Quinta Normal hits not two, but five, birds on the cultural tick list.
Located conveniently at the end of the Santiago Metro's green line, this park contains five widely differing museums, as well as an artificial lake, where rowboats can be rented, and acres of cool, green space to enjoy.
From an historical perspective, the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural is the most interesting of the bunch, with a collection of dinosaur bones, including some of the Pleistocene-period Ground Sloth, found in southern Chile as long as 1.8 billion years ago.
The Museo de Ciencia y Tecnologia houses scientific exhibits in fields such as astronomy and geology, while Museo Ferroviario focuses on steam locomotives.
Museo Artequin and Museo Infantil run exhibitions for children.

La Chascona

Deceased Chilean poet Pablo Neruda's house in Bellavista neigbourhood is now a fascinating and highly entertaining museum, with guided tours in English and Spanish.
See the feature on Bellavista neighbourhood (Ed: please put the page number for that feature in here) for more.

Cementario General

Santiago's General Cemetery, now almost 200 years old, is interesting for both its distant and more recent reminders of Chilean history.
Home to two million decedents and stretching over 86 hectares of land, Cementario General is hailed as one of the continents biggest and most beautiful cemeteries.
Many of Chile's important political and historical figures are buried here and the architecture of their memorials and tombs vary between Greek, Roman, Mesoamerican, Moorish, and even Egyptian.
The Memorial del Detenido Desaparecido y del Ejecutado Político is a stark reminder of the scores of 'disappeared' victims from the era of the country's former dictator, Augusto Pinochet.

M100, Galpon 7 (theatre)

For visitors interested in the newer side of Santiago culture, there's the Centro Cultural Matucana 100 around Quinta Normal and the Galpon area on Chucre Mansur Street, Bellavista.
Both these venues are known for their fine selections of modern art, theatre (Spanish language) and music.
A must for the contemporary culture vulture.

When to go:
Visitors who make it to museums before lunchtime often have the place almost to themselves. Venues have varying hours, but as a rule of thumb, go early.

Maps & Times:
See venue websites (simply type the names above, followed by Chile/Santiago) into a search engine for maps & times or visit mapcity.com a street address.

Costs:
Between $1,000 and $4000 for most museums. Free on Sundays. Theatre ticket prices vary widely, but generally from $4,000 upwards.

Check out:
Patrick Hieger's Green Mile tour info at chipsites.com/ww/green-mile-museums-santiago-chile.html.