| It
was built between 1784 and 1805 by the celebrated Italian architect
Joaquin Toesca, with the purpose of housing the royal mint. This role was
to be short-lived, however, and after some forty years it became
residential palace for the presidents of Chile, starting with Manuel
Bulnes in 1848, and ending with Carlos Ibáñez del Campo in 1958. At this
point it stopped being used as the president’s home, but it continues to
be the official seat of government. It’s worth timing your visit to
coincide with the changing of the guard that takes place in front
of the palace at 10am every other day, when hundreds of green-uniformed
soldiers in high black boots march around the square to the rather jolly
Chilean national anthem. |