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| The Metropolitan
Region whose capital is Santiago, constitutes
the main economic, administrative and geographical center
of Chile. It is also the industrial, commercial, financial
and cultural core. |
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| Santiago is the
capital of Chile, the area of highest urban concentration.
With little more than five million inhabitants, it is
one of the most modern cities in South America. |
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| Endowed with modern
buildings, modern freeways, an extensive and efficient
network of underground railroad (Metro), as well as of
centers urban and large green areas, Santiago is obliged
step for those who want to know the heart of Chile. |
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Santiago Underground |
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Presidential Palace |
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Aerial view Italia square |
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| This metropolis, called
“Gran Santiago”, includes
many complete municipalities. Most of Santiago is inside the
province of the same name, with some outlying sectors in the
provinces Maipo, Cordillera and Talagante. |
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| Here are the Palacio
de la Moneda, headquarters of the Executive Power,
the Palacio de Tribunales, headquarters
of the Supreme Court and of most of the Ministries. The National
Congress, headquarters of the Legislative Power, was located
in Santiago up to 1990, when it was transferred Valparaíso.
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| It is considered as the
city with better quality of life of Latin America. In it are
concentrated more than 40% of the domestic economic production
and it is the headquarters of the great majority of national
and international enterprises. Santiago's Exchange (Bolsa
de Comercio de Santiago) is one of the most prestigious
of the continent. |
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| In the last years, the
economic well-being and the financial security of Chile have
allowed that Santiago has become an important business city
disputing the title of Financial Capital of Latin America with
other cities like Miami and Sao Paulo. |
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| An important tourists
attraction in Santiago is the San Cristóbal hill,
located inside the city and topping about 830 m.a.s.l. (about
240 meters above the city). This hill is crowned by the Virgin's
statue that is observable from great part of the city. You can
reach the summit by cable cars that will give you a privileged
view of the city and of the Andes Mountain range. In the San
Cristóbal hillside it is also located the Metropolitan
Zoo. |
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| The central area is,
without a doubt, the soul of the city. The colonial buildings,
as Santiago's Cathedral, the Central Mail and
Santiago's Municipality (located in the main square or Plaza
de Armas) and the Casa Colorada
(Red House), contrast with the neighborhoods of European characteristics
of beginnings of the 20th century, as the Paris-London quarter
and the Civic quarter, where you find the it is located the
Palacio de la Moneda (the Presidential
Palace) and the recently inaugurated Plaza de la
Ciudadanía (Square of the Citizenship).
The higher buildings with modern characteristic also dominate
the city, what gives a mixture of styles, sometimes chaotic
and sometimes ordinate. |
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| It is also necessary
to highlight the museums of Fine arts, Contemporary
Art, Pre-Columbian Art, the National Historical
Museum and the Archaeological Museum, and the National
Library and National Historical Archives.
Going a little away from the center, toward the west you find
the quarters around the streets Dieciocho , Brasil, Concha y
Toro, República and Yungay. These began to be urbanized
from the middle of the 19th century with very different building
styles, coexisting houses of traditional local design with houses
and palaces of neoclassicist, neo-Gothic and art-deco styles.
Due to their architectonic characteristics, some buildings have
been declared National Monument, for example, the
Dieciocho Street, the Concha y Toro quarter, the large
houses of the Republic Avenue, the street Virginia Opazo and
the passages Lucrecia Valdés, Adriana Cousiño
and Hurtado Rodríguez. |
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| The center’s west
side has become the more important artistic and cultural focus
of attraction lately, with the Matucana Avenue
as axis connecting various institutions like the Cultural Center
“Matucana 100”, the Museums
ArteQuín, the Natural History Museum,
the Technological Museum of Quinta Normal,
the Railroad Museum, the Museum of
Latin American Popular Art, the Museum of Solidarity
“Salvador Allende”, the new City
Public Library and the Archive of the 20th Century. |
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| The most notable examples
of colonial architecture are houses and rural hacienda buildings
made of adobe which today are integrated in the city. Such is
the case of the houses of Lo Matta,
Lo Fontecilla, Las Condes and Los Dominicos (which
include a church building). |
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| Also, this city has great
extension of parks, such as the O'Higgins Park, the
Forestal Park (located next to the river Mapocho)
and the Bicentennial Park, among others. The National
Stadium, located in the Ñuñoa Municipality,
was headquarters of the World Football Championship 1962 and
it is actually a national monument. |
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| Due to its proximity
to the Andes, Santiago is favorably located for the practice
of winter sports. The ski centers of Farellones, Valle
Nevado, La Parva, El Colorado and
Lagunillas are a few kilometers from the city. |
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