La Moneda Palace

Chile
Date of Submission: 01/09/1998
Criteria: (ii)(iii)(iv)(v)
Category: Cultural
Submitted by:
Council of National Monuments
Coordinates: Long. 70°40' W ; Lat.33°27' S
Ref.: 1195

Description

Towards 1730, the economy of the Reino de Chile was going through a great depression. For this reason, the Cabildo de Santiago (city council) asked of the King of Spain the setting up of a mint house in the city. The Crown lacked the resources to undertake such enterprise, therefore it was decided to assign it to a private citizen. So, don Francisco Garcia Huidobro, a wealthy Spaniard businessman settled in Santiago, was appointed as Treasurer in Perpetuity, and he bought the house at the southwest comer of Huérfanos and Morandé streets, known as Palacio Viejo (Old Palace). On September 10, 1749, the first coin is minted in gold at that place, bearing the image of King Fernando Vl. After the death of Garcia Huidobro, the Mint House is moved to the old Jesuit schoci located at one side of the church of the Compahia de Jesus. However, the installations did not meet the requirements to perform these operations, so in 1780 the Governor Agustin Jauregui proposed the construction of a buliding for this purpose. The person appointed to put into effect the project was the Roman architect Joaquin Toesca y Ricci, who had participated in numerous public works made by the Spanish King Carlos lil. As the ideal site for the building, Toesca chose that of the Colegio Carolino, then known as the Teatinos lot. Thus, the works started in 1784, and the following year the required materials began to arrive: lime from the Polpaico country estate; sand from the Malpo River; red stones from a stone quarry at the Cerro San Cristobal; white stone from Cerro Blanco; oak and cypress wood from the woods of Valdivia; Spanish locksmith's craft and forge from Vizcaya; and 20 varieties of bricks baked in Santiago for the construction of lintels, comers, floors, moldings, and of the solid walls more than a meter thick. Toesca died in 1799, before seeing his work finished. The military engineer Agustin Cavallero continued his work. In 1805, and lacking some finishing, Governor Luis Muhoz de Guzman formally opened the Mint House of Santiago de Chile, deemed by some specialists the best and most harmonious civilian building of the Colonial America. Of a pure neoclassical style and with Roman Doric influences, the building is an horizontal volume transmitting strength and stability thanks to its rectilinear composition Its main façade faces Moneda street, and its rooms -richly yet soberly furnished- are distributed along transverse and longitudinal axes forming several patios, sources of light and quietness. In 1846, at the request of President Manuel Buines, the building turned into the presidential house and seat of government, although until 1922 mintage works were done in it. The building has been subjected to several modifications throughout the years, made by different presidents. The surroundings of La Moneda underwent an important remodeling starting from 1930, that enhanced its south façade, created the squares at both fronts, and surrounded the Palace with stern buildings for housing public institutions. The last great restoration of the building was motivated by the painful destruction it suffered as a consequence of the 1973 military coup. The Architecture Office of the Ministry of Public Works was in charge of this restoration, concluded in 1981, which sought to give back full validity to Toescats original concept. The Palace keeps until this day the style, strenght and harmony impressed by its architect. This, along with the roles it has played, account for the high esteem in which Chileans hold this building.