The Santiago Metropolitan Park is an

urban park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to r ...

located within the city of

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

, capital of

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. Consisting of the San Cristóbal, Chacarillas and Los Gemelos hills, and the areas of Tupahue, Lo Saldés, Pirámide and Bosque Santiago, the park is located between four

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, relig ...

of Santiago –

Huechuraba Huechuraba () is a city and commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. Huechuraba has a mild mediterranean climate: relatively hot dry summers (November to March) with temperatures reaching up to on the hotte ...

, Providencia, Recoleta and

Vitacura Vitacura is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. It is one of the most expensive and fashionable areas of Santiago. Inhabitants are primarily high income families. It belongs to the Northeastern zone o ...

– and covers around 722 hectares, making it the largest urban park in Chile and one of the largest in the world. The Santiago Metropolitan Park also maintains 16 Urban Parks distributed throughout 13 communes in Santiago, a total area of almost 150.1 hectares. The maintenance work is carried out through “Urban Parks’ Conservation, Maintenance and Safety” projects which involve cleaning, irrigation, replantation and management of vegetal species, maintenance of urban equipment, sanitation control, weed control, fertilization and safety among other activities. The park was created in April 1966, when incorporating the Chilean National Zoo and the services of

San Cristóbal Hill Cerro San Cristóbal (Tupahue, San Cristóbal Hill) is a hill in northern Santiago, Chile. It rises 850 m AMSL and about 300 m above the rest of Santiago; the peak is the third highest point in the city, after Cerro Manquehue and Cerro Renca. Cer ...

, and is managed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. In September, 2012, the Chilean government launched a plan to significantly refurbish and expand the park between 2012 and 2016, a plan which includes building new footpaths, planting 100,000 more trees and expanding the National Zoo.Gobierno lanza Plan Bicentenario e invertirá $22 mil millones en Parque Metropolitano
La Tercera. 29 September 2012. Retrieved 23 November 2012.

Origins and history

San Cristóbal Hill began to be used in 1903 with the installation of the Mills Observatory, currently known as the Manuel Foster Observatory, twin of the Lick Observatory of the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

.El Observatorio de San Cristóbal
Zig-Zag (magazine), editorial. Vol. 2, No. 65. Retrieved November 15, 2012. The main icon on the hill, the Statue of the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

, was inaugurated on April 26, 1908. In 1916, a project led by Alberto Mackenna Subercaseaux and Pedro Bannen sought to transform the hill into a park and public recreational area. On September 28, 1917, Law No. 3295 was published in the Official Gazette which authorized president

Juan Luis Sanfuentes Juan Luis Sanfuentes Andonaegui (; 27 December 1858 – 16 July 1930) was President of Chile between 1915 and 1920. Sanfuentes was the son of writer and politician Salvador Sanfuentes Torres and Matilde Andonaegui. Orphaned at an early age and ...

to accept donations, purchase or expropriate land located between Bosque Santiago and San Cristóbal Hill, inclusive. Said land was declared for public use and the creation of the future park. The then Intendant of Santiago, Pablo Urzúa, took official possession of the park's land on June 17, 1918. It was however during the period of intendant Alberto Mackenna, between 1921 and 1927, that the Hill was landscaped and prepared for public use.

Attractions

Pools

The park has two open-air pools: the ''Tupahue'' pool (meaning “place of God” in Quechua) and ''Antilén'' pool (“there is sun” in Mapundungun). Both operate in the summer from November through March. The ''Tupahue pool'' was opened in 1966 on Tupahue hill, in what was originally a quarry. Surrounded by vegetation, there is a stone wall by Chilean muralist María Martner and Mexican Juan O’Gorman. The pool is 82 meters long and 25 meters wide. The ''Antilén pool'' was opened in 1976. It is located on the summit of Chacarillas hill with a 360-degree panoramic view of the city. The pool is 92 meters long and 25 meters wide.

Cable car

The Santiago Cable Car was opened in 1980 and takes visitors from the base of the hill, in Pedro de Valdivia Norte neighborhood (''Estación Oasis'') to the summit (''Estación Cumbre'') in 20 minutes, passing through Tupahue station. The Tupahue pool is located at ''Estación Tupahue'', as is the ''Mapulemu'' Botanic Garden (“forest of the earth” in Mapundungun) and the Camino Real restaurant. At the summit, tourists can visit the Sanctuary on San Cristóbal Hill and take the Funicular, which runs between

Barrio Bellavista Barrio Bellavista (''Bellavista Neighborhood'') is an area that lies between the Mapocho River and San Cristóbal Hill in Santiago, Chile. It is known as Santiago's bohemian quarter, with numerous restaurants, boutiques, avant-garde galleries, b ...

and the summit of

. As of 2012, the Cable Car remains closed due to mechanical failures. Its restoration has been marked as part of the government's Bicentenary Plan. In December 2014, it was announced that the cable car would be reopening in 2016 with work on the project starting in March 2015. The project will cost 9.5 million dollars. The cable car was reopened in November 2016.

Funicular

The Funicular de Santiago, which dates from 1925, has been declared a National Monument. It has two stations: the National Zoo and the summit. The funicular runs for almost 500 meters on a 45 degree incline, departing from

. The funicular has two carriages, with one displaying a memorial plaque commemorating

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

, who rode in the carriage in 1987 en route to saying mass at the feet of the Virgin Mary statue located at the hill's summit. In September 2012, the funicular was marked for refurbishment as part of the Chilean government's Bicentenary Plan.

National Zoo

The Chilean National Zoo has thousands of animals representing 158 species.

Botanical Garden

Located within the park, the Botanical Garden contains various plants native to Chile and its mission includes conservation and research.

Sanctuary

A religious sanctuary atop

commemorating the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...

, is notable for its large statue of the Virgin Mary.

Bicentenary Children's Park

This park was opened in 2012 and has an amphitheater, treehouses, water features, interactive fence and a cable car.

Torre Antena

As it stands today, there are numerous Radio Antennas on the top of the hill that have become an eyesore. The Government of Santiago has come up with a solution to tear down all the existing antennas and instead combine them in one giant antenna that would also serve as a new landmark for Santiago. In late 2013 the city held a design contest for the new tower with the winning bid being announced in February of the following year.Primer Lugar Concurso Torre Antena Santiago: Smiljan Radic + Gabriela Medrano + Ricardo Serpell
05 February 2014. Retrieved 08 February, 2015.

References

External links

Official website Santiago Metropolitan Park

Chilean National Zoo

Santiago Funicular

Jardín Botánico Chagual

360° virtual tour of San Cristobal
{{Authority control Urban public parks Parks in Santiago, Chile Tourist attractions in Santiago, Chile Venues of the 2023 Pan and Parapan American Games