Viña del Mar (
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
for: "Vineyard of the Sea"), also known locally as
La Ciudad Jardín (Spanish for: "The Garden City"), is a
ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an commune and coastal city in
Valparaíso Province-Comunas:The province consists of 9 comunas:*Valparaíso*Viña del Mar*Quilpué*Villa Alemana*Concón*Quintero*Puchuncaví*Casablanca*Juan Fernández...
,
Valparaíso RegionThe V Valparaíso Region is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions. with a population of 1.7 million.Its capital is the port city of Valparaíso, other important cities include Viña del Mar, Quilpué and Villa Alemana....
. With a population of 286,931 (2002 census), it is Chile's fourth largest city. It is also part of the
Greater ValparaísoGreater Valparaíso is the third largest metropolitan area in Chile, after Greater Santiago, and Greater Concepción. It takes this name after the city of Valparaíso, the oldest city of the group and the most important harbour in Chile...
area, the country's third largest conurbation (pop. 803,683, 2002 census), which includes nearby
ValparaísoValparaíso is a city in central Chile and one of that country's most important seaports and an increasingly vital cultural center in the hemisphere's Pacific Southwest. The city is the capital of the Region of Valparaíso...
and other cities.
Viña del Mar is best known as a tourist and beach destination (with multiple beaches including Reñaca, Las Salinas, Miramar, Casino, and others). One of its key attractions are a gambling
casinoA casino is a facility that houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships and other tourist attractions...
and a yearly music festival,
Festival Internacional de la Canción de Viña del MarThe Viña del Mar International Song Festival is a music festival held annually during February since 1960 in Viña del Mar, Chile. It is considered the most important musical event in Latin America....
(Spanish: "Viña del Mar International Song Festival") that is hosted in the
Quinta Vergara AmphitheaterThe Quinta Vergara Amphitheater, is an open-air amphitheater within the Parque Quinta Vergara located in Viña del Mar, Chile. The amphitheater is the site of the Viña del Mar International Song Festival held yearly in February...
. The city also hosts a yearly
ATPThe Association of Tennis Professionals or ATP was formed in 1972 to protect the interests of male professional tennis players. Since 1990, the association has organized the principal worldwide tennis tour for men, the ATP Tour, which was renamed in January 2009 and is now known as the ATP World Tour...
clay-court
tennisTennis is a sport played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a strung racquet to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court....
tournament (
Movistar OpenThe Movistar Open is an ATP International Series men's tennis tournament held every year at the Centro de Tenis Las Salinas, at the Club Naval de Campo Las Salinas in Viña del Mar, Chile and played on clay. It was previously called BellSouth Open by Rosen.-History:In 1992, Brazil suspended its...
).
History
The valley where Viña del Mar was founded was known as the valley of Peuco by the Changos, native inhabitants of the area dedicated to fishing. With the arrival of the Spanish
conquistadorConquistador is the term widely used to refer to the Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th through the 17th centuries following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
es the valley was divided into two large
haciendaHacienda is a Spanish word for an estate. Some haciendas were plantations, mines, or even business factories. Many haciendas combined these productive activities. The hacienda system of Argentina, parts of Brazil, Chile, Mexico and New Granada was a system of large land-holdings that were an end in...
s. North of the Marga Marga creek up to the current location of Reñaca, Viña del Mar, and to the south up to the current Cerro Barón (Baron Hill), the Hacienda Las Siete Hermanas (The Seven Sisters).
Francisco Javier Álvarez authorized the construction of a railroad through his lands to join Santiago and the port of Valparaíso. The arrival of the railroad brought a young engineer Jose Francisco Vergara who married Francisco Javier Álvarez’s granddaughter, Mercedes Álvarez. It was José Francisco Vergara who instigated the idea of the creation of a new city independent of Valparaíso. Finally on May 30 1878 the Chilean government authorized the creation of the new city of Viña del Mar.
In 1892 Salvador Vergara (son of José Francisco Vergara) commenced the development of the north bank of the Marga Marga creek under the name of Población Vergara, around the current Avenida Libertad (Liberty Avenue).
The establishment of Refinadora de Azúcar de Viña del Mar (Sugar Refining Company), CRAV in 1873 and the arrival of the British company of Lever & Murphy in 1883 gave the necessary economic push to transform the young city into one of the most important cities of Chile. The building of a military installation, Regimiento Coraceros in 1917, naval facilities in Las Salinas, and the housing of military and naval personnel furthered the city's growth. That year, what had been so far a beautiful house by the sea shore became, after some rehabilitation, what is known today as
Wulff CastleCurrent Headquarters for the de la Municipalidad de Viña del Mar . Located on 37 Marina Avenue, it is almost hanging over the sea.-History:...
. In 1925 the Teatro Municipal was opened in its current location in the eastern front of the city's downtown square, Plaza de Viña del Mar. In 1928 president
Carlos Ibáñez del CampoGeneral Carlos Ibáñez del Campo was a Chilean Army officer and political figure. He served as dictator between 1927 and 1931 and as constitutional President from 1952 to 1958.- The coups of 1924 and 1925 :...
authorized the creation of a casino, securing the future and the touristic character of the city. The Casino Municipal de Viña del Mar was opened on December 31, 1930. On January 31, 1931 the Presidential Palace was inaugurated in Cerro Castillo (Castle Hill) as a summer residence for the Chilean President. The touristic character of the city was furthered with the inauguration of the O'Higgins Hotel in 1936 and the inauguration of the Miramar Hotel by Caleta Abarca Beach in 1945. Later a number of small industries settled in the eastern part of the city, bordering the Marga Marga creek in El Salto, including a
Coca-ColaCoca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants and vending machines internationally. The Coca-Cola Company claims that the beverage is sold in more than 200 countries...
bottling facility, meat processing facilities, and chemical factories.
Viña del Mar was one of the four host cities of the
1962 football (soccer) World CupThe 1962 FIFA World Cup, the seventh staging of the World Cup, was held in Chile from 30 May to 17 June. Chile was chosen as host by FIFA in June 1956, as the World Cup returned to the continent of South America after 12 years...
. It is now home to
CD EvertonEverton de Viña del Mar, is a Chilean football club based in the city of Viña del Mar. The club was founded June 24, 1909 by visiting sailors from Liverpool and named after Everton F.C. of England. Everton are Chile's sixth most successful team, having won the national title 4 times, an achievement...
, a soccer team in the Chilean Premier division, which took its name from the
English teamEverton Football Club are an English professional football club from the city of Liverpool. Having competed in the top division for a record 107 seasons, they have played more top-flight league games than any other English team and have won the League Championship 9 times — the fourth highest...
.
Viña del Mar was declared a sister city of
Sausalito, CaliforniaSausalito Sausalito Sausalito (from Spanish: sauzalito "small willow grove", from sauce "willow" + collective derivative -al meaning "place of abundance" + diminutive suffix -ito; with orthographic corruption from z to s due to seseo; early variants of the name were Saucelito, San Salita, San...
(a city north of San Francisco), in 1971. To demonstrate the sister city relationship, you can find a square (plaza) called "Viña del Mar" in downtown Sausalito, and a "Sausalito" stadium and "Sausalito" lagoon in Viña del Mar. Viña del Mar is also a sister city of Mar del Plata, Argentina since 1993. There are intentions to create such relationship with Guangzhou, China.
During the 1980s a global economic downturn seriously affected the city, a number of small and medium sized factories went bankrupt, including the stationery manufacturer Coda, and most importantly, CRAV, and Textiles Viña, two of the biggest employers in the city.
UnemploymentUnemployment occurs when a person is available to work and seeking work but currently without work. The prevalence of unemployment is usually measured using the unemployment rate, which is defined as the percentage of those in the labor force who are unemployed...
rose to alarmingly high rates. Many factories started to consolidate their operations in Santiago making the situation even worse. The city has failed to fully recover from the blows inflicted by the economic downturn of 1982, but an increase in the number of international tourists visiting the city, and the recent high prices of copper in world markets have promoted an economic recovery.
Extensive commercial remodelation in the 15 Norte Avenue area, previously an abandoned industrial area, has seen most of the large Chilean retail chains settling in the area, which is now covered with large shopping malls, like Marina Arauco, cinemas, fast food stores, and supermarkets.
The city has benefitted from major investments in infrastructure that have greatly improved the traffic flow in the downtown area, especially in routes connecting Viña del Mar with Santiago, Valparaíso and Quilpue. A modern and efficient subway (Merval) connects Viña del Mar with the cities of
LimacheLimache, is a commune of the V Region of Valparaiso, within the Province of Quillota, in the central zone of Chile. Limache is the only commune of Chile that has two cities. First San Francisco de Limache is to the north of the Matting of Limache, towards the south is Limache Viejo...
and Valparaiso, following the original railroad tracks between Valparaiso and Santiago.
City landmarks
Visitors and locals enjoy the parks and water fountains of the city, including a large flower clock (Reloj de Flores) with its numbers made up of flowering plants, near Caleta Abarca beach and Miramar Hotel. The
Valparaiso Sporting ClubValparaiso Sporting Club is a thoroughbred horse race track in Viña del Mar, Valparaiso Region, Chile.- History :Valparaiso Sporting Club was founded in 1882 by members of mostly British origin. Since 1885, it is the site of the Chilean Derby Stakes...
horse racing track is another major landmark. Jardín Botánico or Parque del Salitre, a rather large botanical garden on the outskirts of the city, was originally designed and built by an entrepreneur who got rich from exploiting
saltpeterPotassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula KNO3. A naturally occurring mineral source of nitrogen, KNO3 constitutes a critical oxidizing component of black powder/gunpowder. In the past it was also used for several kinds of burning fuses, including slow...
resources in northern Chile.
A few buildings from the 1800s still remain after multiple earthquakes that have destroyed most of the old areas of the city. Most of the older buildings that remain are located along Avenida Libertad (Liberty Avenue), Quillota Street and Quinta Vergara, a rather large park in the middle of the city. The presidential summer residence, Castillo Presidencial (Presidential Castle) is located on Cerro Castillo (Castle Hill).
The city's gambling casino is the oldest in Chile and also the most visited and luxurious. The casino was designed with
art decoArt Deco was a popular international art design movement from 1925 until the 1940s, affecting the decorative arts such as architecture, interior design, and industrial design, as well as the visual arts such as fashion, painting, the graphic arts, and film...
style and is surrounded by well-tended gardens (hence the city's nickname). In 2002 a hotel (Hotel del Mar) was added to the 1930s building, resembling the architectural features of the original building.
Palacio Rioja, a magnificent mansion built by Fernando Rioja in 1907, located on Quillota Street, houses an environmental museum. The Fonck Museum, located in Cuatro Norte Street, has a large exhibition of pre-Columbian articles, and a large
moaiMoai or mo‘ai are monolithic human figures carved from rock on the Polynesian island of Rapa Nui between the years 1250 and 1500. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on stone platforms called ahu around the island's perimeter...
(
Easter IslandEaster Island ; is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeastern most point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile annexed in 1888, Easter Island is widely famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai , created by the early Rapanui people...
statue made of volcanic rock), the only one in mainland Chile, is also on display. Palacio Carrasco, built by Emilio Carrasco in 1912, now houses the Municipal Library and also is used for arts exhibitions. The building is also surrounded by nice gardens adorned with fine sculptures including a Rodin. Palacio Vergara located in Quinta Vergara was built by Blanca Vergara (daughter of José Francisco) in 1906 and it is now owned by the municipality. It currently houses the School of Fine Arts and has produced important Chilean artists like the painter Giancarlo Bertini.
Palacio Brunet (also known as "Castillo Yarur") was built in 1923 by Adolfo Brunet on Cerro Castillo, close to the presidential mansion. Currently it is owned by
Carabineros de Chilethumb|250px|Carabineros de Chile, patrolling a street in [[Santiago, Chile|Santiago]]Carabineros de Chile are the uniformed Chilean national police force and gendarmery, created on April 27, 1927. Their mission is to maintain order and create public respect for the laws of the country...
(Chilean police) and is used as a reception center for illustrious visitors. It was declared a national monument in 2005.
Numerous bars and restaurants have recently opened in the area around Plaza México and Avenida San Martín, offering Chilean and international cuisine. Seafood restaurants are located on the Camino Costero (Coast Roadway) that joins Viña del Mar and Con-Cón, a coastal town to the north.
Climate
Viña del Mar has a Mediterranean climate with coastal influence of the
Humboldt CurrentThe Humboldt Current is a cold, low-salinity ocean current that flows north-westward along the west coast of South America from the southern tip of Chile to northern Peru. It is an eastern boundary current flowing in the direction of the equator, and can extend 1,000 kilometers offshore...
. In January minimum temperatures range between 59°F (15º) and 64°F (18°C) while in July vary between 48°F (9°C) and 55°F (14°C). The rain falls mainly in
autumnAutumn is one of the four temperate seasons. Autumn marks the transition from summer into winter, usually in March or September when the arrival of night becomes noticeably earlier.The equinoxes might be expected to be in the middle of their seasons, but temperature lag Autumn (also known as...
and
winterWinter is the coldest season of the year, between autumn and spring.-Meteorology:Meteorological winter is the season having the shortest days and the lowest average temperatures. This corresponds to the months of December, January and February, which have the coldest weather and, especially in the...
, with
monthThe month is a unit of time, used with calendars, which is approximately as long as some natural period related to the motion of the Moon; month and Moon are cognates. The traditional concept arose with the cycle of moon phases; such months are synodic months and last approximately 29.53 days...
Rainier July (107 mm), the total average of annual rainfalls is 480mm.
Education
Several educational institutions are located in the city such as
Universidad Adolfo IbáñezThe Adolfo Ibáñez University is a private university of Chile pertaining to the Adolfo Ibáñez Foundation. In 1988, according with the new educational legislation, a new university was founded on the base of the Valparaiso Business School , an old institution for the professional teaching in...
and the School of Architecture of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, PUCV (Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaiso), both located in the beach-suburb of Recreo. The PUCV's Faculty of Education is located in Sausalito near the lagoon of the same name. Also, the
Universidad de ValparaisoUniversity of Valparaíso is a university in Chile. It is a derivative university part of the Chilean Traditional Universities.-External links:*...
has campuses in the city such as the one housing faculties of Marine Sciences and Engineering. The
Universidad de Viña del MarViña del Mar University is an autonomous, private institution of higher education recognized by the Ministry of Education of Chile. It was founded on November 21, 1988.-History:...
, a private university, has a number of campuses across the city. There is also the most prestigious University in Latin America 'Federico Santa Maria Technical University'
Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Mariathumbnail|right|276px|University frontisThe Federico Santa María Technical University , situated in Valparaíso, is one of the most reputed engineering universities in Chile...
located in Valparaiso city and one of the Campus 'Jose Miguel Carrera' located in Viña del Mar.
There are a number of private secondary schools, such as Liceo Parroquial San Antonio, The Mackay School, Colegio Sagrados Corazones (Sacred Hearts School), Colegio Hebreo (Hebrew School)
Colegio Seminario San Rafael (Saint Raphael Seminary School) and The Pan-American College, the latter in the suburb of Miraflores Bajo.
The Chilean Navy (Armada de Chile) also operates several technical schools and a planetarium in Las Salinas, at the northwest edge of the city.
Notable residents
The city is the birth place of
Alberto HurtadoSaint Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga , popularly known in Chile as Padre Hurtado , was a Chilean Jesuit priest, lawyer, social worker and writer of Basque origin, founder of the Hogar de Cristo movement...
, the second Chilean Catholic saint and founder of the Hogar de Cristo (Home of Christ) foundation, writer
Maria Luisa Bombal
María Luisa Bombal was a Chilean author. Her work is now highly regarded, incorporating themes of eroticism, surrealism and proto-feminism, and she ranks among a small number of Latin American female authors whose works received worldwide acclaim.Following the death of her father, Martín...
, the author of
La Ultima Niebla (
The Last Fog), former Chilean president
Patricio AylwinPatricio Aylwin Azócar was the first president of Chile after its return to democratic rule in 1990, following the military government of General Augusto Pinochet. Patricio Aylwin is of Irish and Basque descent.- Early life :...
, tennis player
Nicolás MassúNicolás Alejandro Massú Fried , nicknamed Vampiro , is a Chilean tennis player, a former world number nine in singles, and a two-time Olympic gold medalist...
and
SlayerSlayer is an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California, formed in 1981. The band was founded by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. Slayer rose to fame as one of the leaders of the American thrash metal movement with their 1986 release, Reign in Blood, which has been called...
vocalist/
bassistA bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
,
Tom ArayaTom Araya is a Chilean American musician, best known as the bassist and vocalist of the American thrash metal band Slayer....
.
External links