CHILE: Santiago's Old and New

I have to confess, I like old classical buildings where master craftsmen have added intricate details that have stories to tell.

I find them intriguing and thought provoking while I look for the stories within the stories.

And I also really like when the old and new buildings are side by side comparing how craftsmanship, styles and details have changed.

So this is a post on random buildings in Santiago – the old and the new.

But more emphasis on the the old.

The Chilean National Palace of Fine Arts, was completed in 1910 in a French neoclassical style with Art Nouveau details. 

Its design was inspired in part by Paris’s Petit Palais, with an ornate façade and a large glass-roofed central hall that fills the interior with natural light.

The National Library of Chile is also a neoclassical design influenced by French academic architecture. Its grand façade features columns, symmetry and ornate detailing.

The building was completed in 1925, although parts of it began being used earlier as construction progressed.

I think the staircases are so pretty. My sister Marie humoured me with a pose.

One of the original reading rooms.

The Palacio Pereira was completed in 1874 as a private residence. It was also designed in a neoclassical style by a French architect. 

It features a symmetrical façade, interior courtyards and classical detailing typical of 19th-century elite homes. 

After years of deterioration, the building was restored in the 2010's and now serves as a cultural and governmental space.

A few photos and quick comments of other pretty places.... The post office from the late 1800's, also inspired by French Neoclassical architecture. It is on the site of the former governor’s palace

The Municipal Theatre of Santiago, the city’s main opera house, opened in 1857 and was designed in a neoclassical style inspired by European theaters. (I think there might be a theme here.)

Then we have the London Paris neighbourhood.

This intrigued me, an overly ambitious graffiti artist. I am not sure how s/he got up there. 

And then, finally, some old and new, sometimes beside each other.

Speaking of old and new.....

Or, older and slightly less older...