I realized yesterday it's been weeks since I've been to a good museum. So I decided to visit a bunch today.
I started off with Santiago's cathedral, however, just because it was on the way to the first real museum. Like so many places of worship, the cathedral is grand and richly decorated. I don't quite get why they dump so much money into these places, but they're nonetheless nice to look at:
Next to the cathedral is the post office. Beautiful building, isn't it?
My first museum was the museum of national history. The exhibition rooms were ordered from past to present and gave a nice overview of Chilean history - for those capable of and willing to read lots of Spanish. But even from only reading parts of it, I learned a lot. The exhibits were very nicely done as well, and included Salvador Allende's glasses that broke when he shot himself.
The next museum on my way was the contemporary art museum (MAC). The building that houses both this museum and the museum of fine arts is really beautiful, both inside and out (but I kinda forgot to photograph the outside).
MAC had several ingenious interactive installations, and I spent quite some time there just playing around. One of my favorites was a dark room where you could move laser-generated "curtains" by walking through them or by trying to put your hands through - all of it accompanied by a blowing-wind-soundtrack. I just love all the great ideas artists have :-)
After that, the museum of fine arts didn't seem all that special anymore ;-)
After all these museums (which unfortunately didn't include the museum for precolumbian art which will be reopened in 2013), I walked up to Cerro Santa Lucía, a small hill offering city views and some nice gates and fountains on the way back down:
I started off with Santiago's cathedral, however, just because it was on the way to the first real museum. Like so many places of worship, the cathedral is grand and richly decorated. I don't quite get why they dump so much money into these places, but they're nonetheless nice to look at:
Next to the cathedral is the post office. Beautiful building, isn't it?
My first museum was the museum of national history. The exhibition rooms were ordered from past to present and gave a nice overview of Chilean history - for those capable of and willing to read lots of Spanish. But even from only reading parts of it, I learned a lot. The exhibits were very nicely done as well, and included Salvador Allende's glasses that broke when he shot himself.
The next museum on my way was the contemporary art museum (MAC). The building that houses both this museum and the museum of fine arts is really beautiful, both inside and out (but I kinda forgot to photograph the outside).
MAC had several ingenious interactive installations, and I spent quite some time there just playing around. One of my favorites was a dark room where you could move laser-generated "curtains" by walking through them or by trying to put your hands through - all of it accompanied by a blowing-wind-soundtrack. I just love all the great ideas artists have :-)
After that, the museum of fine arts didn't seem all that special anymore ;-)
After all these museums (which unfortunately didn't include the museum for precolumbian art which will be reopened in 2013), I walked up to Cerro Santa Lucía, a small hill offering city views and some nice gates and fountains on the way back down:
