These photos are of the dioramas in the Museo de Santiago, housed in the historical Casa Colorada, one of the few remaining colonial buildings in Santiago. Guest author Clarence Fisk visited the museum and wrote of his tour of La Casa Colorada Y La Historia De Chile.

The famous Casa Colorada, located at Merced #860 in downtown Santiago, was built in 1769 for Conde de la Conquista Don Mateo de Toro y Zambrano by Don Joseph de la Vega, a Portuguese craftsman. Ten years in the building, the house was the first two story home with a stone facade, built around a central courtyard.

The house was the gathering place for Santiago's elite who came to discuss political events, including the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, as well as musical events known as tertulias. José de San Martín and Bernardo O'Higgins were both guests in the house. This diorama represents the clothing and furnishings in use at the time.

El Trazado de la Ciudad de Santiago is the name of this diorama representing the laying out of the plan of the city. Don Pedro de Valdivia founded the city on the banks of the Mapocho river at the base of Cerro Santa Lucía on February 12, 1541.

Accompanied by Doña Inés de Suárez, the first European woman to arrive in Chile, Don Pedro de Valdivia and 150 soldiers took a year, searching for gold and silver, to journey from Lima to central Chile.

Santiago as it looked in 1549, with Cerro Santa Lucia and Cerro San Cristobal in the background.

La Llegada del Gobernador represents the arrival, in 1660, in Santiago of governor Don Francisco de Meneses. The governor created a scandal by the way he greeted the young aristocratic ladies on the balcony of the Bravo de Saravia house.

This diorama represents soldiers departing from the Estación Central in Santiago for Valparaiso, to sail north to participate in the War of the Pacific, 1879-1884. Read about the naval battles of this war in Glorias Navales.

This diorama portrays the first Junta de Gobierno y Cabildo Abierto on September 18, 1810 called to form a regional government while the Spanish monarchy was ousted by Napoleon.. This was the beginning of the Chilean independence movement, and the date is celebrated annually as the Fiestas Patrias, or Dieciocho

La Primera Imprenta represents the first printing press which printed, on February 13, 1812, the La Aurora de Chile. Edited by Don Camilo Henríquez González, the paper spread the ideas of independence.

El Puente de Cal y Canto linked the center of Santiago with the north bank of the Mapocho. Cemented with lime and egg white from a million eggs, the bridge was inaugurated in 1778 and lasted until the river flooded in 1888.

La Remodelación del Cerro Santa Lucía represents the efforts by Don Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna in 1872 to reclaim the hill from miscreants and to beautify the city of Santiago with parks, gardens and sculptures. Read about some of these parks and statues in Clarence's Santiago de Chile: Son Solo 15 Kilometros De Historia. La Virgen del Cerro San Cristóbal.

This diorama represents a disguised Manuel Rodríguez opening the door of Governor Marcó del Pont's carriage. During the Patria Vieja (1810-1818) when the Royalists were back in charge, those who favored independence were in hiding in Mendoza, Argentina. Manuel Rodríguez organized a militia that harried the royalist forces and as a spy working for General San Martín, he was able to cross the Andes by a secret pass in only 24 hours.

This model of the La Iglesia de la Compañía represents the tragedy on December 8, 1863 when the church burned during the celebration of the Immaculate Conception. There were hundreds of candles and oil lamps burning, and the church burned to the ground in minutes. With only one door open, and that opening inwards, the celebrants had little or no chance to get out. Over 2000 people died in the fire. The Basílica del Salvador was built on the same site between 1870-1892.