Santiago, Chile is a dramatically located capital city, with the Andes looming to the east and the Chilean Coastal Range to the west. Within the city, though, the many parks are also a distinguishing characteristic, never far away. This post explores just a few of them.
Santiago Airport
The garden experience in Santiago starts at the Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport. The new international terminal, completed in 2021, faces the old (now domestic) terminal across a plaza, flanked with three-storey car parks. As part of wider efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of the airport (including recycling, using energy from renewable sources, reducing energy consumption, and tree planting), the opportunity was taken to line these sizeable car parks with green walls. The walls are divided into large panels, each with its own striking design.
Plaza de Armas
The Plaza de Armas lies at the heart of Santiago, and was created when the city was founded in 1541 by Pedro Gutiérrez de Valdivia, a Spanish conquistador and the first royal governor of Chile. It occupies its own square within the sixteenth-century grid pattern, and is now bordered by the Metropolitan Cathedral of Santiago, Palacio de la Real Audiencia de Santiago, Central Post Office (formerly the site of the Governor’s residence), and a range of nineteenth-century buildings. It remains central to Santiago life, and is designated as a national monument, as a ‘zona tipica’. Largely paved, the square is filled with circular beds of palm and other trees, and, scattered about, some lovely benches. Amongst all this can be found an equestrian statue of Pedro Gutiérrez de Valdivia, a bandstand, and a ‘Freedom of Latin America’ monument.
Plaza de la Constitución
Built in the late eighteenth century, and originally the Chilean mint, Palacio de La Moneda became the seat of the president of Chile in 1845, and now also hosts a number of government departments. It was severely damaged during the military coup of 1973, during which the then President, Salvador Allende, died.
The public square immediately to the north – Plaza de la Constitución – was created in 1930, expanding the existing plaza. During the restoration works which followed the coup, a ‘bunker’ was installed under the square for Augusto Pinochet. The square has large raised lawns, and formal paths. Its boundary is marked by trees and elegantly positioned benches. There are also various statues, including one of President Allende.
Plaza de la Ciudadanía
A new square was created to the south of Palacio de La Moneda in the early twentieth century, to mark the bicentenary of Chile’s independence: Plaza de la Ciudadanía. It occupies the site of the former palace lawn and parking area, and, whilst mostly paved, contains substantial pools, with lines of fountains within it, and the Bicentennial Flag (27 metres long and 18 metres wide, on a 61-metre mast).
Palacio del ex Congreso Nacional de Chile
Work began on the Palacio del ex Congreso Nacional de Chile in 1857, and – whilst not yet completed – it was inaugurated as the home of Chile’s legislative body in 1876. It remained in this use for almost a century, surviving earthquakes and fires, but has subsequently served a variety of purposes. The palace and gardens were designated as a historical monument in 1976.
These gardens were created on the site of the Church of the Company of Jesus, following the fire of 1863, which destroyed the church, and caused the death of around 2,000 people (2% of the population of Santiago). Designed by Guillermo Renner – responsible for a number of the parks and gardens in Santiago – the gardens contain a monument to the victims of the fire, installed in 1883. Within a decade of that, a collection of ornate French cast iron lamps were installed, and a fountain. The gardens were restored between 2006 and 2010.
Parque Forestal
Parque Forestal is one of a number of parks making up a linear green feature in Santiago, running broadly south-east/north-west on land reclaimed in the late nineteenth century from the adjoining Mapocho River. The Parque Forestal stretch links the Lastarria, Bellas Artes and Centro Histórico districts.
The design makes the most of the long and narrow space, which is lined with both lampposts and oriental planes, but also includes winding paths and green areas to create a feeling of openness. Its lagoon dried up in the 1940s, and was removed, but it contains a number of other distinctive features to punctuate its length. Most dramatic is the Bellas Artes museum, established in 1880, though the current building – as is apparent by its style – dates from 1910. Towards the other end of the park – where there are glimpses of the Andes – is the Fuente Alemana, marking the centenary of Chile’s independence. Made of stone and bronze, it represents the development of Chile as a nation, and includes a boat, various symbolic figures, a condor (the national bird of Chile), and more besides.
Parque Quinta Normal
Parque Quinta Normal is a large park, at 35 hectares, and – as noted here – the first in Santiago, having opened in 1841. It was created on agricultural land, and was initially intended to have a focus on agricultural education and the cultivation of plants with agricultural potential. The botanical garden was introduced in 1853.
Given its origins, the number of exhibition and museum spaces around the park is not surprising. These include the National Museum of Natural History, which opened in the 1870s, the National Zoo of Chile (which opened in 1882, but moved to the Parque Metropolitano de Santiago in 1925), and the ‘Parthenon’, which opened in 1885, to host artistic exhibitions, and a number of others. The scientific emphasis shifted over time, and the park was managed for recreation from 1970. Perhaps the most unusual development was the creation of the Museo Ferroviario de Santiago in the park, in the 1980s: the south-western portion of the park is now filled with steam engines, displayed within a carefully designed and entirely complementary landscape.
Other distinct features are the lake, and the extraordinary number of benches, displaying a very delicate use of concrete. The park was designated as a national monument in 2009 (zona tipica).
Cerro Santa Lucía
‘Santa Lucia Hill’ is the remnant of a volcano in the centre of Santiago, Used in the sixteenth century as a look-out point and place of worship, and a defensive position in the nineteenth century (Hidalgo Fort), as well as a cemetery and the site of an observatory, it was transformed into an ornate and unusual park in the 1870s. There are various terraces to combat the gradient, and access is via a combination of winding paths and drives, and staircases. Soil and later a variety of plants were introduced to create a park on this prominent rock, as well as a range of structures.
These include a Gothic-style chapel (the Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna Hermitage), a precipitous viewpoint, and the conversion of Hidalgo Fort into a castle (now an events venue). The southern entrance to the park was completed in 1902, and is particularly elaborate, featuring the Terraza Neptuno and fountain, with the expansive Terraza Caupolicán above (Caupolicán being a famous Mapuche leader). Elsewhere there are further fountains, pools, and statues, tiled benches, a statue of Pedro de Valdivia (Cerro Santa Lucía being the location for the ceremony marking the foundation of Santiago, in 1541), and views over both the city and the Andes. At the foot of the northern slope of the hill is the Jardin Japones. The park was designated a national monument (historical monument) in 1983.
Parque Metropolitano de Santiago
Second only to the Andes as a prominent feature in Santiago is the Parque Metropolitano de Santiago, located primarily on San Cristóbal Hill. As noted here, with a total area of over 700 hectares, it is ‘the largest urban park in Chile and one of the largest in the world’. First utilised as the location for an observatory, in 1903, a large statue of the Virgin Mary was erected shortly afterwards. From 1916, plans were made to create a park on the hill, and the necessary landscaping was finally undertaken in the 1920s.
The park can be accessed on foot, by a cable car, or by a funicular installed in 1925. There are a number of landmarks and points of interest within the park, including the Sanctuary of the Immaculate Conception on San Cristóbal Hill (including the aforementioned statue of the Virgin Mary), a botanical garden, a zoo (relocated from Parque Quinta Normal), a Japanese garden, and two open-air pools, added in the 1960s and 1970s. The main draw is however – as with so much in the city – the views over Santiago and the Andes.
Conclusion
This is an incomplete tour of the gardens of Santiago: there are many, many more, including Parque Bicentenario, Parque Araucano, and Parque O’Higgins. Together, they contribute enormously to the character of the city, as well as the usual environmental and health benefits, and are well worth exploring. Comfortable shoes are a must, however.
Gardens, Heritage and Planning 