Description of the attraction
Founded in 1880, the National Museum of Fine Arts of Santiago is South America's oldest art museum. It was originally called the "National Museum of Painting". In 1887, the government acquired a building known as the Parthenon, which was built to host annual art exhibitions. The museum moved there and changed its name to the Museum of Fine Arts.
In 1901, the government decided to create an original building for a museum and a school of fine arts. The building was built in Forest Park and was landscaped by Jorge Enrique Dubois, trained in horticulture at the Versailles school in France.
The current building of the Palais des Beaux-Arts was opened for the centenary of Chile's independence in 1910. The project of the museum building with an area of 6,000 square meters was developed by the Chilean architect Emilio Jekkuer in a combination of neoclassical style with baroque and art nouveau styles. At the end of the palace is the University of Chile Museum of Contemporary Art, which houses the old School of Fine Arts.
The interior layout and facade of the building are modeled on the Small Royal Palace in Paris. The dome that crowns the central hall was designed and manufactured in Belgium. He was brought to Chile in 1907. The approximate weight of the dome is 115,000 kg, including the weight of the glass of the dome was 2,400 kg.
The central hall contains sculptures in marble and bronze, in addition to a collection of specimens of ancient sculptures. The south wing on the ground floor displays paintings from the collection of European paintings. In the halls of the north wing, there is an exposition of Chilean art.
The museum houses an artistic heritage of over 3,000 items acquired through purchases, donations and gifts. The museum has the largest collection of sculptures and the second largest collection of paintings in Chile. The museum's collections include the country's artistic heritage from colonial times: paintings by Italian, Spanish and Flemish artists, collections of drawings and photographs, and a collection of African sculpture.
The museum has a library specializing in the visual arts with about 100,000 volumes. The museum hosts temporary exhibitions and organizes an educational program with seminars and courses.
The museum building was declared a historical monument in 1976.
