Main Squares, Santiago de Chile

Plaza de Armas

Identical in all Spanish–style cities the Ayuntamiento and the Cathedral are located around the Plaza de Armas, seconded by the Museo de Historia Natural and an old market. Here was the center of the original layout of the city.

This square has many buildings around the plaza dating from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: Museo de la Catedral, the Cathedral, Correo Central, Museo Histórico Nacional, Municipalidad de Santiago, Portal Bulnes y Fernández Concha. Nearby are located the Iglesia de Santo Domingo, the Museo de Arte Precolombino (in Bandera at the corner of Compañía), the Palacio Arzobispal and the “Casa Colorada” or Museo de Santiago (Merced 864); the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (Parque Forestal), Iglesia San Francisco, this is the only sixteenth century work of architecture still preserved in the city, Teatro Municipal (Agustinas at the corner of San Antonio), Plaza Mulato Gil de Castro (Lastarria 305), Centro Artístico y Cultural and the Mercado Central, really a splendid array of Chilean farm produce and seafood to buy.

Here like countless places in the world, theater and open air music are on offer for the pleasure of passers by, although here activities are restricted to Thursdays and Sundays.

Plaza de la Constitución

Thisis a large public space in front of the north side of the Palacio de La Moneda. Here, every other day between 10:00 and 10:30 hrs, takes place the spectacle of the Changing of the Palace Guard. An important feature is the monument to Diego Portales.

Around the Plaza stand a number of important buildings. On the corner of Teatinos and Moneda streets is the Ministerio de Hacienda (1933) and at Teatinos and Agustinas stands the Hotel Carrera (1934), two works of the architect Smith Solar. Inside Calle Agustinas you will see the Diario La Nación building, ever the east side of the Plaza (Agustinas corner of Morandé) stands the imposing monolith of the Banco Central (1927).

About the transport; is possible take a bus in Calle Teatinos at the corner of Agustinas, another alternative is walk down to the corner of Teatinos with the Alameda, there you will find buses and La Moneda metro station.

Plaza Italia

The famous Plaza Italia has a monument that symbolizes the friendship of the Italian and Chilean peoples, dating from 1910. In this place an engraved plaque reads: ‘A la amistad Italo-Chilena’ (To Italian-Chilean Friendship). The ltalian Institute for Foreign Trade presented the marble decoration of this statue symbolizing the friendship of our peoples to the Italian colony in Chile and the City of Santiago. Roberto Negri an Italian sculptor, was responsible for casting this bronze sculpture representing a standing angel with a torch as a symbol of the future, there is also a lion representing the Chilean people bursting its chains to achieve independence.