Palegoldenrod

Sunday the 25th May was Chile’s National Day of Patrimony, where all (or most) of the national monuments are open to the public. There are so many national monuments here - in my first week in Santiago I recall a tourguide on a bus boredly repeating every 2 minutes “That is the blah building. Its a national monument.”

Beatrice and I decided we would take the opportunity to check out some of the more interesting buildings - like La Moneda. Now, those of you who have been reading will have thought “Oh, Carly, but you have been there already!”. Well the normal tour is to walk through the courtyards only. On la Dia del Patrimonia Nacional, the entire building is opened up. You can walk through almost every room and even look into the President’s office!

There were a lot of people interested in seeing the national monuments - families, but also young and old people and individuals, which was good to see. I remember people talking to me about loss of Chilean culture, both through Pinochet, the popularity of the west and I guess in some way sometimes a touch of cultural inferiority - it feels like a lot of Chileans don’t like Chile, they just want to get to the west. Well I think this National day of Patrimony is a great thing - a lot of people are obviously interested in knowing more about Chilean history, the day has a festive feel (street performers come out, art is being created in the streets, everything happens on one day). In La Moneda people were handing out stickers “I participated in the National Day of Patrimony” - to adults and children alike. What a great opportunity and technique for passing on (even reviving) the history of a nation, and thus pride in it.

The buildings aren’t just opened - the tour guides are very well informed, good humoured, and welcoming. In La Moneda (where my cousin informs me the guards are specially selected for both skill and a good appearance) the guards in each room were encouraging children to the front, asking if people had any questions, and in some cases patting the children on the heads as they moved them along. It was a very cosy feel - surprising to me for a few reasons. Firstly, I don’t recall any building tour in Australia being quite as welcoming as these, and secondly for the sheer number of people moving through each building (especially La Moneda) I was surprised that the guards weren’t more serious, more concerned about security. Maybe they were but we didn’t see it.

The La Moneda tour also included an opportunity to taste traditional Chilean cuisine, for free (what a great idea). I had a tiny serving of Pastel de Choclo which was very yummy. I think Pastel de Choclo may be my favourite Chilean dish, just above the El Completo

In the Plaza de Armas, people were dancing traditional northern dances, the usual sunday game of chess was being played, and there was an incredibly long path of sand/sawdust/floral art on the ground from the entrance of the catedral along two sides of the plaza and down a pedestrian street. I’m not sure how far it went or where it ended, but from the corner of the plaza it went down the pedestrian street as far as I could see. I think it must have signified a historical pilgramage to the catedral? All of the art we saw was Christian themed. Maybe a local can help me figure this one out.

After La Moneda we had a look at Casa Colorada, one of the first houses in Santiago and now a colonial museum. Here were a bunch of young people dressed in period costume and traditional music was being played in the courtyard.

We then had a look at the Santiago Town Hall which had some beautiful and intricate interior architecture… I don’t think the photos do it justice.

The National Day of Patrimony is once a year, and monuments across the nation are open for free all day.

As usual, more photos are available in my Flickr area