Estación Mapocho Cultural Center
Vast iron-and-glass former railway hall, its arched trusses shipped from Belgium, now a hub for concerts and fairs.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Estación Mapocho Cultural Center in Santiago follows architect Emilio Jecquier's plan for an iron-and-glass train station meant to crown Chile's 1910 centennial, and the Belgian ironworks that had to cast the trusses because no local workshop could. It traces the seven decades the hall spent serving trains from the port, the nitrate mines and across the Andes, and the 1985 earthquake that helped bring that era to a close. You'll hear how the government later chose to rebuild rather than tear down. Stand beneath the arched trusses and look up.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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