BiblioRedes

Facade of the National. Library Inside you can see murals of the painter Arthur Gordon, among any others.

With nine landmark buildings in the metropolitan area, the Directorate of Libraries, Archives and Museums (DIBAM, for its initials in Spanish) offered the visitors the treasures that are part of the history of Chile to celebrate the Heritage Day with activities and free tickets.

On Sunday  May 29th, Cultural Heritage Day (organized by the National Monuments Council), more than a hundred buildings in the capital, including eight assigned to the Directorate of Libraries, Archives and Museums (DIBAM, for its initials in Spanish), opened its doors for free and offered exhibitions to the public, guided tours and any other activities. The exception by Dibam was the National Museum of Natural History, within Quinta Normal Park whose building is being repaired after the earthquake of February 27th.

Symbols of Dibam
The National Library was created in 1813, but its current neo-classical building began to be built a hundred years later. Inside you can see murals of the painters Arturo Gordon, Alfredo Helsby, Gustave Courtois and Camilo Mori and heritage lounges as the "Medina". Next Sunday printmaking workshops inspired by the Popular Lira is being offered.

In addition, at noon, at the America Hall, the Education Minister Joaquin Lavin, President of the National Monuments Council, will present the awards "National Monuments", awarded this year to the architect Federico Sanchez Villaseca and to the “Iglesias del Altiplano” Foundation. The decree declaring as National Monument the former Naval Beagle District Command and the 1st Navy House which are foundational property of Puerto Montt will be signed.

The National Archives of Chile protects documents from the colonial administration and the nation state. It has an important map collection from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries and court records from the seventeenth to the early decades of the twentieth century. Part of this rich documents may be accessed on Sunday.
The National Historical Museum, in Plaza de Armas, is located in where it was the Palace of the Royal Court in the Colony, and the Government Palace in the earliest years of the Republic. On May 2nd it celebrated its hundredth anniversary with the exhibition "100 Years, 1000 Stories" which exhibits interesting and recently restored objects and that most of them had never been shown to the public.    
Meanwhile, the Bellas Artes National Museum built by the Chilean architect Emilio Jecquier, celebrated last year its hundreth anniversary. Its glass dome was designed and built in Belgium and it weights around 115,000 kilos. It has 2,400 units glass pieces. Besides its permanent collection  you can enjoy the photography exhibition "Portraits of Memory” on Sunday.

The Museum of Decorative Arts and History Dominico inside Recoleta Dominica Heritage Center is home to an extraordinary valuable collection and library in the former Dominican convent, built in adobe in the late nineteenth century.

The National Museum Vicuña Mackenna is located in the fifth home notorious politician and urban planner, but the original building is only on the outdoor pavilion, where its work room, library and archives are.
The Museum of Education Gabriela Mistral´s building was the former first Normal School for Girls, where Gabriela Mistral, Nobel Prize winner, took the tests that made her a normal school teacher in 1910.
The modern and remodeled Library of Santiago is located in the building that until 2000 was the cellar of the State Procurement Division. In 2001 Dibam took over its remodeling and empowerment as a regional library, which was launched in 2005.

While continuing restoration and repairs of the Natural History Museum (built in 1875), whose building was severely damaged after the earthquake of February 27th, 2010, its historic headquarters are still closed for the public. In parallel, efforts are being made to complete renovation.
However, on Sunday, the Museum offered free workshops on the exhibition "Great Extinction" at Quinta Normal Subway Station just like it did it last year with the successful exhibition "Panubis, from Ancient Egypt to eternity” which had a record number of visitors.

** Dibam Communication Department News.