Ruinas de Huanchaca Cultural Park description and photos - Chile: Antofagasta (Topic)

Ruinas de Huanchaca Cultural Park description and photos - Chile: Antofagasta. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Ruinas de Huanchaca.

Photo and description

In the southern part of the city of Antofagasta, there is a huge majestic stone building, which at first glance can be mistaken for an ancient Inca structure. However, the building is only 125 years old and is one of the largest silver processing plants in South America, built in 1888 after the model of an American plant. The plant began its work in 1892, processing 200 tons of rock per day, brought from the silver mines of Pulacayo and Opipo (Bolivia). But from an economic point of view, the received 3.85 tons of silver per month was not enough for the normal operation of the company. In 1902, the company ceased its activities due to lower prices for silver products in the world market, as well as due to the outdated production technology operating at the plant.

Later, part of the plant's buildings passed into the possession of the Chilean army, the other part passed to the Chilean treasury. In 1964, the territory with the destroyed buildings of the former factory was transferred to the Northern University. In 1974, the ruins of Juanchac were declared a historical monument of Chile.

Today the Juanchac Cultural Park and the Museum del Desierto de Atacama (MDA), built by the architects Ramon Vie, Marco Polidura, Eugene Soto are located on this site and Inaki Volante. The 2,200 square meter museum building houses five exhibition halls, a conference room, offices, warehouses and research laboratories, as well as a cafe and gift shop.

The museum has collections of geology and paleontology. You can visit permanent thematic exhibitions. Among them - "Mining Chamber" tells about the evolution of instruments, used in the early twentieth century in the mining industry. The "Window to the Universe" exhibition was launched with the support of the European Southern Observatory (ESO); on special panels you can see how the first galaxies were born, what dark matter is and how a "black hole" can be grown. The permanent exhibition also tells about the history of cities in the Antofagasta region.

And in front of the entrance to the museum there is a `` Rock Garden '', where you can get acquainted with samples of rocks and minerals from northern Chile, on the other side of the entrance there is an exhibition with samples of spherical and flat calcareous rocks with marine fossils brought from the Atacama Desert.

A small amphitheater was also built on the territory of the ruins, where concerts and shows are held,

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Topic: Ruinas de Huanchaca Cultural Park description and photos - Chile: Antofagasta.