La Moneda is the Presidential palace of Chile. You could say it is like the White House, except the president (currently the Chilean president is Sebastián Piñera) does not live there. We got to go on a tour of La Moneda, which was really interesting.
La Moneda got its name because it was originally constructed as a coin mint (and La Moneda literally translated means "the coin"). In 1845 the president decided he wanted to live and work there, so he did. In 1973, La Moneda got bombed by the Chilean Air Force due to the military coup d'état, Salvador Allende committed suicide there and delivered an on-a-whim amazing speech (translated: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Salvador_Allende's_Last_Speech) (again, due to the military coup d'état), and from then on presidents were not allowed to live there. It has an interesting history, although I gave you the most interesting tidbits. You can read more about it on wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Moneda_Palace.
Now here are some pics:
The entrance. It did not have gates of any sort. However, it is really hard to get into (like, we needed to show our original passports to get in (they wouldn't even take copies).
One of four courtyards. This one is called "Cannon Patio." It houses 2 historic cannons.
One of many halls. I think it was for when the president held parties or something. Each hall had a different purpose; for example, there was a hall simply for meeting with other presidents (and important people like the nation's soccer team when they came back from the World Cup).
The press room.
Each president gets a coin made after there presidency. Pinochet does not have a coin.
The big coin in the middle is a coin of Santiago.
A model of La Moneda.
A chapel inside. Chilean law seperates church and state but La Moneda was originally built with a chapel inside because that's how the Europeans wanted it and it has remained that way since. They hold Catholic and Evangelist (as those are the 2 most practiced religions in Chile) services there once a week that La Moneda employees can attend.
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