Santiago City Hall and Central Post Office

The Municipality and the Central Post Office

The Santiago audio-guided tour presents you with the north side of the Plaza de Armas, which once belonged to Pedro de Valdivia. On his death, the site was divided, and several major institutions of the city were built there.

From the Real Audiencia to the historical museum

The fine palace with its sand-coloured façade, completed in 1808, housed the Real Audiencia, the highest colonial court of the kingdom of Chile, created in 1609. After the revolts of 1811, the palace became the seat of the first National Congress, one of the oldest in Latin America, before returning for a time to the royal court during the Reconquest. On 12 February 1818, the same day as the founding of Santiago three centuries earlier, the governor O'Higgins declared the independence of Chile there. The palace today houses the national historical museum.

What there is to see

To the right of the museum is the former Cabildo, seat of the colonial administration, become today the municipality of Santiago. To the left, the imposing Beaux-Arts style building is the Central Post Office, a former palace of the governors then presidential palace, which houses a museum of posts and telegraphs. These three buildings, listed as historic monuments, by themselves tell centuries of institutional history of Chile.

Practical information

These buildings border the north side of the Plaza de Armas, in Santiago. Their façades can be contemplated freely from the square, on the level; the national historical museum and the postal museum can be visited according to their own hours, liable to vary.

What does the former palace of the Real Audiencia house today?

The national historical museum of Chile; the palace was also the seat of the first National Congress and the place of the declaration of independence in 1818.

What is the Central Post Office of Santiago?

A Beaux-Arts style building, a former palace of the governors then presidential palace, which today houses a museum of posts and telegraphs.