Plaza Baquedano
Bronze equestrian monument turned protest canvas, ringed by a square famous for its street art and mass demonstrations.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Plaza Baquedano in Santiago centers on the bronze equestrian statue of General Manuel Baquedano, cast by sculptor Virginio Arias and raised onto its plinth in 1928, and on what happened to it after October 2019, when the square became the heart of Chile's mass protests against inequality. It follows the graffiti, the stencils and wheat-pasted portraits that spread across the surrounding construction fencing, and the stray dog Matapaco whose painted image became an unofficial mascot of the uprising. Look for the handwriting still on the walls around the plinth.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Barrio Lastarria
Bohemian quarter of cobbled lanes, cafes and a scarred colonial church still bearing its two-thousand-nineteen fire.
O’Higgins Park
Sprawling public park with a lagoon, gardens and an arena, once a riot-scarred stage for a papal Mass.
Museo a Cielo Abierto En San Miguel
Sixty-plus murals covering blank apartment-block walls in a working-class housing estate.
Sitio de memoria Parque por la Paz Villa Grimaldi
Former secret detention center rebuilt as a memorial park of gardens, reconstructed cells and a wall of names.
José Domingo Cañas Memorial House
Former secret-police torture site whose original garden pool survives beside a memorial to the disappeared.
Constitution Square
Civic plaza before a neoclassical government palace, named for ten national constitutions.