- Address: Pedro Montt 2802, Valparaiso, Region de Valparaiso, Chile;
- Phone: +56 32 226 3100;
- Official website: www.bcn.cl.
The name of the Chilean city of Valparaiso is translated from Spanish as "Paradise Valley". It is one of the largest and second most important city of Chile , a resort and a port.
In Valparaiso, many historical museums, due to the specifics of the location of the quarters, the center has an oblong structure, where the streets are located along the hills, which are connected by cable cars . In the center is the historical part of the city. To the outstanding historical and architectural monuments of Valparaíso you can safely put the National Congress building.
The history of the National Congress building
Since the 19th century, Valparaiso has become an important cultural center of Chile, with universities, academies, a library, many museums and the largest port in Chile.
In Valparaiso, such prominent political figures of the country as Salvador Allende and Augusto Pinochet were born. The name of the latter is indirectly linked with the history of the building of the National Congress of Chile. After the overthrow of the power of Allende by the military junta of Pinochet, the country began to undergo maximum changes. The power of Pinochet lasted about 16 years.
Since 1811, Chile is a parliamentary republic. The parliament of the republic and the representative body of power were members of the National Congress. Until 1990, the Congress was in the capital of Chile, the city of Santiago.
After the 1990s, during the time of the decentralization of power in Valparaíso from Santiago, the parliament was moved, and together with this a new building of the National Congress of Chile was built. To this day, Parliament is located in Valparaiso.
Features of building construction
The new building was built on the site of the house in which Valparaiso spent his childhood Augusto Pinochet. On the site of the completely destroyed house and its adjoining territories, in 1989 a monumental building was constructed, made in the style of postmodernism of the 90s of the 20th century.
About 100 million US dollars were allocated for the construction of the building. Such expenditure for the Chilean budget of the 1990s was unaffordable. This construction and political project was the last, which took place during the dictatorship of Pinochet, after which the country restored its economy for a long time. Until now, residents of the city of Valparaiso are against the presence of parliament in their city and are in favor of moving the congress to the capital of Santiago.
Location of the building in the city
The building of the National Congress of Chile is located in the eastern part of the city center, opposite the Plaza O'Higgins. Not far from the congress building are many hotels and hostels. Because of the convenient location in the center of the city to see a colossal building can each travel to Valparaiso tourist.