Send to Friend 
Compartir
Tour the city and discover Santiago's hidden corners, delving into the culture, the history and the heritage of the capital and the surroundings.
Characters like Pedro de Valdivia, Inés de Suárez, Marcó del Pont and Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna emerge from the colorful stories on tours through Santiago's most beguiling neighborhoods.
Santiago's Origins:
One of the most popular tours takes a look at the intimate details of the Founding of Santiago, together with the reason for European expansion in the 15th century and the reality when the Spanish arrived here.
Historic higlights can be found downtown right on the Santa Lucía Hill, "so innocent by day; so sinful by night," as one famous poet said.
Cerro Santa Lucía:
Originally called "huelén" - "pain," in the language of the Mapuche - this urban hill is the site where Pedro de Valdivia camped on December 13, 1540, along with his soldiers and yanaconas - indigenous people who had joined the Spanish forces. It's fitting to mention that the day also marked the celebration for Saint Lucia, in whose honor Pedro de Valdivia named the hill, as it's known today.
On February 12, 1541, on the northern slope of the hill, Pedro de Valdivia founded the city of Santiago de la Nueva Extremadura, named for the patron saint of Spain.
Today, the Santa Lucía hill is home to a series of important architectural and historical elements, like the González castle and the Hidalgo castle - two forts built by Marcó del Pont to defend the city.
The entrance, known as the Portada del Escudo Español, is crowned with a Spanish coat of arms, built by Ignacio Varela y Andia in 1805, and portrays the history of the Spanish reign through the symbols on the coat of arms.
Basílica de la Merced:
The Order of Mercy (Orden de la Merced) was one of the first religious groups to settle in Chile. It is said that the first representatives (Antonio de Almarza and Antonio Solís) arrived here accompanying Don Diego de Almagro on his 1535 expedition.
The year 1566 saw the construction of the order's first religious temple, situated on the plots donated by Don Rodrigo de Quiroga and his wife, Inés de Suárez, whose remains are housed in the temple today.
Plaza de Armas:
On February 24 of the same year, Pedro de Validiva and builder Pedro de Gamboa mapped the city of Santiago around the current location of the Plaza de Armas, tracing the capital's boundaries eight blocks from the north to south and 10 blocks from east to west.
With these boundaries and the goal of forming the first territory for his placement as the governor of the Chilean Kingdom, Pedro de Valdivia awarded plots to his closest soliders, like Don Rodrigo de Quiroga, who was married by Pedro de Valdivia to Inés de Suárez in order to obtain the governorship title. It is fitting to mention that Valdivia was obligated by the Viceroyalty of Peru to bring his wife Marina Ortiz de Gaete to Chile.
Transcendental historic fact:
On September 11, 1541, while Pedro de Valdivia was in the Marga-Marga zone (now part of the Valparaíso Region), Santiago came under attack of 8,000 indigenous warriors, led by Michimalonco.
At the time, the precarious settlement relied on 50 Spanish soldiers for its defense, who held off the attack for two days and eventually fought off the indigenous attack, thanks to the ferocity of Inés de Suárez in protecting the city. Inés de Suárez beheaded seven indigenous leaders kept in imprisonment and dragged the bodies to the battlefield, provoking the retreat of the attackers.
More tourist attractions that can't be missed:
Among the many tourist attractions that can't be missed during a visit to the area around Plaza de Armas, the Casa Colorada museum stands out.
Today, this is one of the last architectural vestiges of the colonial period, together with the San Francisco church. The plot where the Casa Colorada stands today belonged to Don Mateo de Toro y Zambrano Ureta in 1769, who bought it with money from his mother-in-law, Doña Francisca de Borja de la Carrera. The house was designed and built by Joseph de la Vega. It was the only two-story house at the time, with the first floor devoted to the family's business and the second story allocated to the domestic living quarters.
The Casa Colorada gained its name in 1888, when it was remodeled with red stucco. This house held the first Government Junta in 1810, and after the Battle of Chacabuco (1817), this is where José de San Martín and Bernardo O'Higgins spent the night. One of the huge historical figures of Chile also lived in this house - Lord Thomas Cochrane.
