Palacio de La Moneda

The Palacio de la Moneda stands on the Plaza de la Constitucion in Santiago Centro and is the seat of the President of Chile. It was designed by the Italian-born architect Joaquin Toesca and built from 1784, with works finished in 1805, as the Real Casa de Moneda, the colonial mint where silver and gold coin was struck. Its restrained neoclassical architecture, with long symmetrical facades and interior courtyards, was among the largest civil buildings in the Spanish colonies at the time.

In 1845 President Manuel Bulnes moved the government into the building, and it has housed the executive ever since. During the 19th and 20th centuries it was altered and extended, and it witnessed major political events. The most significant was 11 September 1973, when the Chilean air force bombed the palace during the coup led by General Augusto Pinochet. The building was heavily damaged by fire and shelling, and President Salvador Allende died inside. Reconstruction took place in the 1980s, with the palace returned to government use in 1981, and it was subsequently restored to its neoclassical appearance.

The courtyards include the Patio de los Cañones and the Patio de los Naranjos, and visitors may see the changing of the guard by the Carabineros in front of the palace, which is held on a regular schedule. Beneath the Plaza de la Ciudadania, immediately to the south, the Centro Cultural Palacio La Moneda hosts exhibitions and a cinema, and it is the easiest way to experience the complex without the palace interior. The Plaza de la Constitucion also holds statues of several former presidents, including a monument to Allende.

Interior visits require advance registration for guided tours through the official channel and are subject to government security arrangements, so the exterior and the surrounding plazas are what most travellers see. Free of charge, the palace area is crowded on national holidays and during ceremonies.