MUSEO DE BELLAS ARTES

This neoclassical palace was inaugurated in September 1910 on the occasion of the commemoration of the centenary of the Republic. It was designed by the Franco-Chilean architect Emilio Jequier (1866-1949). He won the competition organized by the architects of the Ministry of Industry and Public Works to build the famous palace and was a member of the Council of Fine Arts from 1910 to 1927. During its construction, the plans of the palace were inspired by the neoclassical architecture of the Petit Palais in Paris. Since its inauguration, the collections of the National Museum of Fine Arts, created in 1880 and the oldest painting museum in South America, were housed here. The entrance hall is characterized by its large glass dome, whose structure was imported from Belgium. Its architecture is inspired by the Petit Palais in Paris. The museum presents a collection of more than 5,600 works of art, including paintings, drawings, prints, photographs and sculptures by Chilean and international artists. The different rooms of the museum present the successive periods of Chilean art, from the colonial period to the present day, including the academicism of the 19th century and the modernist artists of the Grupo Montparnasse, such as Henriette Petit, Camilo Mori or Pablo Burchard. There are also Spanish, Flemish and Italian paintings. The museum also has a library with more than 100,000 volumes (free access). The institution also organizes temporary exhibitions dedicated to major international artists.