famous buildings in Valparaiso

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We were shown on the Plaza Sotomayor/Independencia - the Navy Headquarters of Chile built in 1910, the Queen Victoria hotel decked out with furniture brought from England, a famous statue commemorating the 21^stMay when Chile went to war with Peru and Bolivia, the outcome being Peru losing its national territories to Chile and Bolivia losing its coastline to Chile. The monument is guarded by a navy man and an eternal flame is placed in front of the monument. The statue has Esmerelda on the top, the man who lead the war. We saw the Barburizza palace built by a rich Yugoslavian immigrant on Paseo Yugoslav. The building was built by the public and is now the Bellas Artes museum.

Valparaiso was the site of the first bank in Latin America? and the first protestant churches, built by German and British settlers. The first, St Paul’s Church built by the British in 1858 had to be disguised, it hadn’t to display any religious symbols due to any non-Catholic churches being forbidden at the time, and had to be built in a discreet place at the bottom of the hill. In the 19^th century, the German sailors then built a protestant church in the style of a boat, and a school to go with it for their children. To prove a point, and that they were closer to God and therefore more worthy, the Catholics built the church San Luis on the top of the hill. There are also 3 cemeteries in the town - some for Catholics and some for protestants. Chilean President Anibal Pinto, who died in Valpariso was buried in one of the cemeteries.

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