Iglesia De San Francisco, Santiago

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La Iglesia de San Francisco, dating back to 1572, is the oldest standing colonial building in Santiago. It has survived the earthquakes that have destroyed the Catedral Metropolitana no less than four times, only losing its clock tower in the process (the current one was built in 1857). The church is famous for housing the Virgen del Socorro, the first Virgin Mary icon brought to Chile by Pedro de Valdivia, the conquistador of Chile, who believed it would protect him from Native attacks. Another feature I found interesting was the graffiti prayer wall, where students have left hundreds of prayers for their friends and family. The church's massive stone walls and arches are also quite impressive, no wonder it's been able to make it through so many earthquakes!

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Dont miss to take a look at Iglesia San Francisco, which is one of the oldest churches of Santiago. The gates are open during the day and you can enter freely and without restrictions, also photography is no problem at all inside the church !
Much more interesting than the church interior is without doubt the museum inside the old franciscan monastery (see my next tip !)

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Museo Colonial San Francisco was built inside the former franciscan monastery next to Eglesia San Francisco and it is really worth seeing !
The museum is divided into several rooms and you will enter each of them through a different door from the monastery-garden. In the first one photography was not forbidden, while in the other ones sign-posts at the entrance clearly said : No photography. So you will see in my photographs only the best exhibits from this first room, the other rooms are similar !
Museo Colonial San Francisco is open for visitors
daily except Monday from 10am - 01.30pm & 03 - 06pm
sundays & holidays between 10.00am and 02.00pm
entrancefee is 1000 $ (=2 euro)

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The lovely red-walled church of Saint Francis (Iglesia de San Francisco) is the oldest building in all Santiago. It has stood on the Almeda for more than 400 years and whilst it has seem much rebuilding as a result of earthquake damage (Santiago has been severely damaged by earthquakes numerous times, the most recent –and devastating – in 1960) it remains, first and foremost, as a functioning church in this most Catholic of countries as well as being an important historical marker.
The museum housed here is probably best sought out only by those with a passion for church history. Its focus is the history of the Franciscans in the country, with lots of religious art, ecclesiastical vestments and the like. It’s open daily between 10am- 6pm, but closes for lunch between 1 and 3. There is a small admission charge.

The temple la Merced was the most sumptuous temple of Santiago where important people were buried. Have several works of art. In the lateral door of the church it is left an old convent, it is today the museum of the la merced.

Merced era el templo más suntuoso de Santiago donde se enterraban personas importantes varias obras de arte. En la puerta lateral de la iglesia queda un antiguo convento que es hoy el museo de la merced

Localizada a poucas quadras da Catedral Metropolitana, esta igreja construida em homenagem a La Merced que e uma santa muito presente nas colonizações espanholas mas realmente nao sei do que se trata, outra peculiaridade e o fato de ser a unica igreja vermelha que eu ja vi em toda minha vida.

Umbicada a unas 3 quadras de la Catedral Metropolitana, esta iglesia construida como un homenaje, a La Merced que es una Santa mucho popular en los países de colonizacion espanhola, pero yo no la conozco bien, outro fato muy particular de esta iglesia es que es la unica iglesia roja que yo hay visto en toda mi vida

Located 3 blocks away from Metropolitan Cathedral this church built in tribute to La Merced, wich is a saint very popular among countries colonized by Spain but that i don´t know anything about, has the great peculiarity of being the only red church i have ever seen.

Marco de um dos distritos mais tipicos da capital chilena a Igreja de Sao francisco impressiona pela sua simplicidade

Marco de uno los districtos mais tipicos de la capital chilena, la Iglesia de San Francisco nos impressiona por su simplicidad.

The San Francisco Church impresses by the simplicity in wich is built within one of the most tipycal districts of the chilean Capital.

I said it once, and I say it again: I've got a thing for old churches.
This particular church is located at the corner of Merced and Mac-Gyver streets, quite close to the Plaza de Armas.
It's a colonial church, with an indisputable red color on the outside. And the inside is even more beautiful.
If you like churches as I do, you better not miss this one.