Hill Santa Lucia of Santiago of Chile
The hill Santa Lucia of Santiago of Chile is small a Colline located in the center of Santiago of Chile. Limited to the south by the avenue of L Alameda del Libertador Bernardo O' Higgins (where the subway station is bearing the name of the hill), in the west by the streets Santa Lucia , Merced and Victoria Subercaseaux . She culminates with 630 meters of altitude and has a 70 meters height. Its total surface area is of 65.300m ².
History
Before the arrival of Spanish, the hill names Huelén which means in Mapuche pain, melancholy or sadness . Its current name comes from the saint of the day when Pedro de Valdivia taken the hill on December 13rd, the day of the Holy Lucie.
When the conquistadores arrive at the valley of the river Mapocho, they use this hill like a point of monitoring of the people autochtones. During Reconquista (1814-1817), the general Casimiro Marcó LED Bridge (last Spanish governor of the Harbor office General of the Chile), it made build two batteries of defense: Marcó and Castillo Hidalgo in the year 1820.
At the 19th century the hill knows great transformations due to the various urban plans. To celebrate the hundredth birthday of independence in 1910, the received hill of many work like the ways built on the hill, of places, fountains, a platform built at the top and especially an afforestation of the hill. It becomes a park then. Benjamin Vicuña MacKenna directed work.
These last years, the hill receives a series of improvements, like the replacement of the system of public illumination, the restaurants… Traditionally, one drew with the gun at the top from the hill to announce the semi-day. However there were various problems of acoustic pollution which had with the gun which emitted strong decibels during the shooting.
The hill Santa Lucia was declared monument national on December 16th, 1983 by the Decree of the Minister of education Public N° 1636.
Curiositées
A monument on the hill makes out of two meters length stone with an extract of the text that Pedro de Valdivia sent to Charles Quint, the four September 1545 when it describes the richnesses of the conquered country exists.