Dependencies
Access Room
The Access room precedes the presidential cabinet sector. Towards the west, parallel to Moneda Street, the Independencia, Toesca and Council rooms follow, and towards the interior, the Carrera, Edecanes, Audiencias and private rooms of the head of state follow. The entire sector formerly corresponded to the residence of the chief accountant of the Royal House.
This room is part of the president's usual route when he enters La Moneda on Mondays and is also the place where he bids farewell to official and state visits; Here a route begins that crosses the axis of the three rear rooms, in the style of palaces.
Its furniture and decorative elements are typical of the centuries and , highlighting a Flemish tapestry from 1600 based on a cartoon by Rubens, whose theme is an allegory of war and peace. Under it, there is a Chilean colonial chest, which has on its sheet metal the anagram of Santiago, an S crowned with 0. This constitutes the brand of the Chilean Mint, which to this day continues to be used as a badge for the medals, coins or engravings made by its workshops.
Also found in this anteroom is a polychrome closet that is linked to national independence, one of the few preserved examples of local colonial furniture, which belonged to José Antonio de Rojas, one of the precursors of the patriot movement of 1810, in whose house the most prominent thinkers and ideologists of Chilean independence met.
Another decorative element present on one of the walls of this room is a portrait of Philip V of Spain, the first monarch of the French Bourbon dynasty. During his reign, the Chilean Mint was founded and his effigy was reproduced on the first ounce of gold minted in the country, in 1749.
Independence Hall
This room is next to the Access room and owes its name to the canvas by the national painter Pedro Subercaseaux, which represents the proclamation and oath of Independence and which stands out on one of its walls. The same theme is treated by Cosme San Martín, a Chilean painter of the 19th century, in a sketch that shows the oath of allegiance with the front of the Santiago cathedral as a background.
In this space are the most emblematic balconies of La Moneda. In them, during the century and the beginning of the 20th century, the most important news from the neighboring viceroyalties was proclaimed. From these balconies, the news during the war of 1879 was also announced, which was heard by the people gathered in the square, and the events of May 21 in Iquique, where a group of Chilean sailors commanded by Captain Arturo Prat Chacón heroically lost their lives in an unequal combat against the Peruvians.
In the past, it was traditional for presidents to appear on the balconies of La Moneda to greet or address the crowd with a speech, as happened with the one given by President Salvador Allende after the so-called tanquetazo on June 29, 1973, which was the last speech by a democratically elected president. Later, during the military dictatorship "Military Dictatorship (Chile)"), General Augusto Pinochet addressed the crowd several times in speeches, for example, on March 11, 1981 when La Moneda was reopened after the restoration that had to be carried out due to the bombing of the palace during the coup d'état of 1973. On that occasion Pinochet promulgated the new constitutional text, approved on September 11, 1980 and was sworn in as president; gave another speech when he was designated by the Military Government Junta "Junta de Gobierno de Chile (1973-1990)") as the sole candidate for the 1988 national plebiscite "Plebiscito nacional de 1988 (Chile)").
After the return to democracy, the first four democratically elected presidents abandoned the custom of giving a speech from the balconies of La Moneda to mark a difference with the regime of General Pinochet, using them only to greet as happened with soccer teams and clubs. On March 11, 2010, Sebastián Piñera resumed the republican tradition of giving a speech from the balconies of the palace.
Some prominent figures, among them, Pope John Paul II, during his visit to Chile in 1987;[17] the tennis player Chino Ríos when he reached No. 1 in the world in 1998, his colleagues Fernando González and Nicolás Massú after obtaining gold and silver medals at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games; the Chilean soccer team that participated in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and Francisca Crovetto and Yasmani Acosta, who won gold and silver medals at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, [18] briefly appeared on the balcony to greet the public stationed in the square.
Inside the Independencia hall, the portrait of Francisco García Huidobro also stands out, which commemorates the founding of the Chilean Mint in 1747. A Spaniard living in Santiago, García Huidobro obtained from Philip V the concession to mint coins in the country. His family retained this privilege until, in 1770, Charles III incorporated the services of the Chilean Mint into the Crown.
Other works in this space are the oil painting Paisaje cordillerano, by Antonio Smith, belonging to Juan Salinas and given on loan to the Presidency of the Republic, and Landscape, by Alfredo Araya, belonging to the collection of the Central Bank of Chile.
Toesca Hall
The Council of Ministers room ends the route of the rooms in the north wing, parallel to Moneda Street. The cabinet councils of the President of the Republic and other work sessions of the head of state are periodically held there, as well as bilateral meetings between Chilean teams and their counterparts during visits by foreign leaders.
Painted in petrol green, its main decorative element is a beautiful Flemish tapestry from the 19th century, which symbolizes a biblical passage from the Book of Esther. Acquired in Europe in the middle of the last century, it was exhibited at the famous Colony Exhibition of 1873. The lamps are made of copper and were manufactured by the Chilean antique dealer Séller following a Dutch model.
Facing the tapestry is a transparent acrylic urn 1.48 meters high and 1.60 meters wide that contains a century-old chief's blanket, a traditional craft of the Mapuche people.
Carrera Room (Yellow Room)
Located on the second floor of the north wing of La Moneda, parallel to the Toesca room, this space is currently used as an anteroom for those who are received in audience by the head of state.
Its name is due to the portraits of José Miguel Carrera and his sister Javiera, author of the first three-band national flag—blue, white and yellow—that stand out on its walls. The first is a copy made by Manuel Núñez González of the 1850 original by Francisco Javier Mandiola (1820-1900), while the second is attributed to Cosme San Martín.
Also in this place is the watercolor on canvas Battle of Ayacucho (1832) by the painter Carlos Wood Taylor. A notable and unique piece of American historical iconography, it represents the battlefield and the movement of the Ayacucho troops.
Its walls are painted yellow, the style and color of this room are the inheritance of the old silk curtains and blue fretwork from the room of President Federico Errázuriz Zañartu.
The furniture is Empire style. Two sofas from the 1820s stand out, on whose arms are drawn the coat of arms and flag of Chile painted in gold, which are supposed to have belonged to the Carreras. It is complemented by six armchairs upholstered in yellow and white jacaranda silk with marquetry, signed by one of the Jacobs, the most famous French furniture makers of the imperial period, authors of the furniture in many of the palaces and residences of Napoleon Bonaparte and his court.
The central table, with English marquetry from the mid-1850s, belonged to Vice Admiral Patricio Lynch. The carpet, from the Royal Tapestry Factory of Madrid, reproduces a model from 1810.
Aide-de-camp Room Commander Arturo Araya Peeters
Parallel to the Independencia room, the aide-de-camp room follows the Carrera room and is adjacent to the office of the president's private secretary.
It is a functional space for the work of the President's Aides, whose main mission is to accompany and assist him in all his official activities and represent him in the protocol events that he specifically entrusts to them. The Aides are appointed by the President of the Republic at the proposal of the Commanders in Chief of the Armed Forces and the General Director of the Carabineros.
In the living room, an old Empire-style bronze lamp and two portraits stand out: the first, oil on canvas by B. Janson"), represents Manuel Antonio Tocornal Grez, 65 cm high and 53 cm wide, belongs to the collection of the National Historical Museum "Museo Histérico Nacional (Chile)") and has been in La Moneda since 1990. The second, by Rafael Sotomayor García, portrays Rafael Sotomayor Baeza, Minister of War of President Aníbal Pinto, who died in campaign during the Pacific War, and was donated to the Presidency by its author in 1982.
In this room there is finally a portrait of Bernardo O'Higgins, made by the Chilean artist Miguel Venegas Cifuentes" (1907-1979) and belonging to the collection of the Presidency.
On July 27, 2023, under the government of President Gabriel Boric, the aide-de-camp room was renamed "Captain de Navío Arturo Araya Peeters Room", in honor of President Salvador Allende's naval aide-de-camp, who was murdered in a confrontation with extremists in the early hours of July 27, 1973.
Gallery of Presidents
The so-called Gallery of the Presidents was formerly located around the side patio of the Presidency, in the northeast wing of the palace. In the last restoration it began to occupy a large space set up around the west side patio, and a section of this is part of the protocol route that foreign heads of state must follow during visits. In this traditional point of La Moneda, portraits, marble and bronze busts of many Chilean leaders are exhibited.
There you can see the oil paintings of Ramón Freire Serrano (1823-1826 and 1827), Manuel Bulnes Prieto, who made La Moneda his residence and seat of Government (1841-1851); José Joaquín Pérez Mascayano (1861-1871), Federico Errázuriz Zañartu (1871-1876), Domingo Santa María González (1881-1886), José Manuel Balmaceda (1886-1891), Federico Errázuriz Echaurren (1896-1901), Ramón Barros Luco (1910-1915), Arturo Alessandri Palma (1920-1925 and 1932-1938), Juan Antonio Ríos (1942-1946) and Gabriel González Videla (1946-1952).
The busts of Balmaceda, Carlos Ibáñez del Campo (1927-1931 and 1952-1958), Pedro Aguirre Cerda (1938-1941), González Videla, Jorge Alessandri Rodríguez (1958-1964), Eduardo Frei Montalva (1964-1970), Salvador Allende Gossens (1970-1973), Patricio Aylwin Azócar (1990-1994), and Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle (1994-2000) complete this illuminated space.
Blue Room
The Blue Room is the place where large private meetings of the Presidency of the Republic take place. It is an obligatory step within the strict protocol that governs State visits that arrive in the country, and the space where the President meets behind closed doors to talk and exchange opinions with leaders, authorities and prominent figures in national and international affairs.
A particular Spanish fire-gilded lead lamp with 36 lights illuminates this transcendent space of La Moneda. At the presidential table installed in one of the corners of the Hall – a French Regency style piece of furniture "Regency Style (French)"), with marquetry and bronze – periodically the president on duty analyzes, studies and signs various documents, such as draft laws or decrees.
On the wall behind this table are two of the most significant paintings in the Palace: the portraits of Bernardo O'Higgins and Andrés Bello. The first is by the famous painter José Gil de Castro (1785–1841), Mulato Gil, precursor of Chilean painting. It is thought that this portrait was the only one in which O'Higgins posed directly in front of the artist. That of Andrés Bello is a copy of the original found at the University of Chile, by the painter Monvoisin.
Another work full of meaning in the Azul room is the monumental canvas by Roberto Matta, Espejo de Cronos (1981), a work 3.90 meters high and 4.87 meters wide, belonging to the collection of the Banco del Estado de Chile. He joined the Blue room since the administration of Ricardo Lagos. During the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet there was a gobelin with the National Shield that served as a frame for the presidential chair; After Pinochet, in 1990, this was changed by another one with baroque scenes, which was in the Presidency's art warehouse.
The rest of the furniture and decorative elements are typical of the centuries and, almost entirely of the Empire style, highlighting four desks and two consoles from the Fernandina period with marbles and bronzes.
The other paintings in the room are by national authors. By Álvaro Casanova Zenteno (1857-1939), The National Squad of 1892 (1894); by Pedro Lira (1845–1912) Andean landscape; by Thomas Somerscales (1842–1927), The capture of the frigate María Isabel by the patriots, in front of the fortifications of Talcahuano; and by Pablo Burchard Calle de Quintero, oil on canvas belonging to the collection of the Central Bank of Chile.
In the first administration of Sebastián Piñera, the room changed its characteristic blue for white, maintained to this day.
Red Room
This space is the anteroom to the head of state's private dining room; It is here where guests attending a lunch or dinner with the president in office wait for their host; Small formal ceremonies are also often held, such as the exchange of gifts between delegations, on the occasion of official or state visits.
Completely painted in red, in this room there is a large portrait of Santiago Solar Rosales and his daughter Clorinda del Solar, by the French painter Raymond Monvoisin, and another of José Joaquín Pérez Mascayano and his wife, Tránsito Flores, by Rafael Correa Muñoz.
Along with them, Moonrise, by Óscar Saint-Marie"), oil on wood belonging to the collection of the O'Higginiano Museum and Fine Arts of Talca, and Landscape with animals, by Alberto Valenzuela Llanos, owned by the Presidency of the Republic.
Other decorative elements are two mirrors of French origin that reflect and give spaciousness to the place, and two French porcelain vases from Sèvres. The Bukhara (Bokhara) style rug and the Montgolfisi style lamp are perhaps the two most valuable decorative objects in this room.
Formerly in this room was the presidential chair, acquired in France in 1832 by President Joaquín Prieto. It was used in the official portraits of some presidents such as Pedro Aguirre Cerda or Carlos Ibañez del Campo. In 1959 during the government of Jorge Alessandri it was transferred to the National Historical Museum "Museo Histérico Nacional (Chile)") where it remains to this day.
presidential dining room
The private dining room of the Presidency of the Republic is adjacent to the Red Room. It can accommodate a maximum of 26 guests, so it is reserved for meetings, lunches and small dinners.
Curiously, not all of the architectural elements in this room were part of the original La Moneda project. For example, the white marble fireplace—the only one in the palace—comes from the house of President Manuel Bulnes, demolished in 1970.
The furniture is mostly mahogany from the beginning of the century. The extension table was made in England for the family of President Federico Errázuriz Zañartu and its chairs are French Empire style, attributed to the French house of Jacob. The carved arrimos were made in Copiapó for the dining room of the Gallo Goyenechea family, famous miners and politicians of the 1850s.
On its walls, the works Aconcagua Valley, by Pedro Lira, Still Life, by Luisa Scofield"); Olivos del Principal, by Enrique Swinburn, and The Hunt, oil on canvas by an anonymous author belonging to the European School of the 19th century, stand out.
Montt-Varas Hall
Two enormous portraits that recall two characters in the history of republican Chile of the century face each other, in an east-west direction, in one of the main protocol rooms of the Government Palace: those of President Manuel Montt Torres (1851-1861) and his Minister of the Interior, Antonio Varas de la Barra.
Both give their name to this room, where the main State ceremonies have traditionally been held, such as signatures or promulgation of laws and oaths of the Cabinets that have accompanied the various leaders. In the case of promulgations, on some occasions, said room is not occupied for the ceremony, because it takes place, if the weather permits, in the Patio de las Camelias or in the Patio de los Naranjos and on some occasions outside the palace.
It is also common for the reception of credentials from foreign ambassadors accredited in Chile to take place in this space, as well as official and state lunches and dinners.
The two paintings that adorn this space belong to the Roman painter Bartolomé Pagani, and were commissioned by the Government of Chile at the end of the century. Likewise, the large bronze and glass lamp of Spanish origin from the 19th century, and the two-color eucalyptus parquet, stand out.
There is also the work Prodigal Son, a Flemish tapestry from the 19th century, made in Brussels, which is part of a collection based on the parables of the Gospels.
Pedro de Valdivia Room
Adjacent to the Montt y Varas room, it occupies the room that in the original building had the office of the superintendent of the Royal Mint. Its name recalls the name that Chile had during the Colony. Currently, the room is used as a waiting space for guests at ceremonies held in the Montt y Varas room, and also for cocktail parties and official receptions.
Its most important element is the large oil on canvas that represents the conqueror of Chile, Captain General Pedro de Valdivia, commissioned from the Spanish painter Ignacio Zuloaga by the Spanish community residing in Chile on the fourth centenary of the founding of Santiago.
When the Spanish artist began his work, he realized that there were no graphic records that reliably confirmed the real physiognomy of Valdivia, so he relied on assumptions and a personal idea to portray him. For this reason, on the left side of the canvas, 3 meters high and 2.17 meters wide, you can read a note that says: "I think this is how Pedro de Valdivia was."
Also found in this room is the portrait of García Hurtado de Mendoza, governor of the Captaincy General from 1557 to 1561. His image is a romantic recreation painted by Alejandro Cicarelli (1810-1874), an Italian hired during the Government of President Manuel Bulnes to found the Painting Academy "Academia de Pintura (Chile)") in 1849.
Also noteworthy is the central lamp, made entirely of glass, made in the Baccarat factories around 1830. It was owned by Francisco Echaurren Huidobro, mayor of Valparaíso, during the Government of Federico Errázuriz Zañartu.
The walls of the living room are white and the floor is black and white Carrara marble. Although originally La Moneda did not have marble, it was installed in the latest restoration in the 1980s to highlight the palatial character of the building, taking as a model the design used in Spanish and Italian palaces of the time.
The furniture and other decorative elements are in the Empire style, characteristic of the period from 1800 to 1820, when the work on the building was completed. Two French chests of drawers, made of mahogany and bronze, are decorated on the front with horns of plenty. They are attributed to the furniture maker Jacob Desmalter") and are similar to a piece of furniture he made for the Fontainebleau palace.
The mirrors, two with mahogany frames and two gilded, are the so-called troumeau from the Empire period, characterized by having paintings or engravings on their upper part.
O'Higgins Hall
Former billing room, receipt and office of the Royal Mint, it communicates directly to the Court of Honor through a wide doorway. Its name remembers General Bernardo O'Higgins, supreme director from 1817 to 1823.
Numerous official receptions are held there, especially the presentation of credentials of diplomats accredited to our Government.
Two carved and gilded wooden columns also remind O'Higgins, which originally framed the directorial canopy in the old Government Palace in the Plaza de Armas. They were part of the first furniture of La Moneda in 1846, and their image was reproduced in the official portrait that Raymond Monvoisin made of President Manuel Bulnes and in the famous painting of the Council of Ministers of President Balmaceda painted by Pedro Subercaseaux. For more than half a century they framed the declaration of national independence.
In this room there is one of the best paintings in La Moneda, The Battle of Maipú by the Bavarian painter Juan Mauricio Rugendas. Arrimos and mirrors are Spanish. Two, with blue polychrome, are neoclassical; the others, gilded and carved, are from the 19th century. Below them, two gilded arrimos with a white marble cover, from the period of Ferdinand VII of Spain, around 1820, represent feathered heads of Indians, probably alluding to the American colonies. A table similar to this furniture is found in the Royal Palace of Aranjuez.
Prat Hall
On December 30, 2009, the President of the Republic, Michelle Bachelet, inaugurated the remodeled Prat room in La Moneda in the context of a plan to honor the "great Chileans in history." Bachelet was accompanied by the newly appointed Minister General Secretary of Government, Pilar Armanet, and the Minister of National Defense Francisco Vidal.[19].
The commander-in-chief of the Navy, Admiral Edmundo González, was also present at the ceremony, who stated that the decision to incorporate this room is "a greater act of loyalty and justice" for the hero.[19] The Arturo Prat room is located on the third floor of the La Moneda Palace, it was designed in the style of the rest of the building's rooms, with three connected rooms, a waiting room, a meeting room and a dining room. The objective of this new room is to receive tourists to honor Chilean history and its characters and heroes; and also become an important room for ministerial and bilateral meetings.
It has different historical objects such as two china plates recovered from the Esmeralda corvette, the oil painting by Cosme San Martín and the last handwritten letter sent by Arturo Prat to Carmela Carvajal, his wife. This room was the most damaged by the 2010 earthquake.[19].
Vicente Huidobro Hall
In 2013, President Sebastián Piñera inaugurated the Vicente Huidobro Hall, dedicated in honor of the poet of the same name. It was located in the first lady's office.[20].
On the occasion, a commemorative plaque was unveiled and the material donated by the Vicente Huidobro Foundation was announced: reproductions of some of the most important photographs of the poet's life; portraits made by two of his great friends, Pablo Picasso and Juan Gris; one of his classic pipes; two of the most important editions of his work; and six of his most representative painted poems.[20].
Chapel
The current location of the chapel is recorded in the oldest plans of the palace, although during its existence it has undergone several variations. The completion of the altar and the decoration of its walls was completed in 1808 by Juan José de Goycolea, a disciple of Joaquín Toesca. Although it was originally conceived with a double height over its northern entrance, so that the Superintendent and his family could go to daily mass without leaving their residence, this was eliminated in the remodeling of 1845, to give more space to the presidential sector of the second floor. Despite this, it continued to serve as a chapel, assisted by the presidential chaplains.
Under the mandate of President Manuel Montt, it was used for the first time for a family service, with the marriage of one of his daughters. The daughter of President Arturo Alessandri Palma was also married in this chapel, without great pomp, in 1924, the eve of his departure into exile. Later, the chapel and its chaplain were moved to the presidential sector of the upper floors, and after occupying different rooms, it was suppressed in the middle of the century.
Restored again next to the courtyard of Honor, it has a neoclassical altar of polychrome wood that imitates fake marble. The main place is occupied by an image of Jesus crucified that remained for many years in the old monastery of the nuns of Santa Clara, in Alameda. Carved in wood and possibly manufactured in Quito, it constitutes an excellent work of the 19th century.
On the walls there are four canvases with scenes from the life of Dominican saints, part of a large series of more than one hundred paintings, which the order founded by Saint Domingo de Guzmán commissioned from the Quito artists Antonio Palacios and Ascencio Cabrera"), between 1837 and 1841.
Also notable for their quality as religious imagery is a Filipino image of the Virgen del Carmen, made in the workshops of the Augustinians in Siglo in Manila, and an image of the Sacred Heart, a replica of the original of the Siglo made by Pompeo Batoni.
In April 1987, this place received a visit from Pope John Paul II, accompanied by General Augusto Pinochet, where he stopped to pray for a few moments on his knees, and then turned to bless those present.[17].