After the cathedral, we went to "Palacio de La Moneda". Literally translated, it means "Palace of The Coin". The Chilean currency was produced there for about 1,000 years after the building was constructed. Later it came to be the house of the President of Chile. We were fortunate enough to get a tour of the building. It was incredibly big, not tall, but big.
When you first walk in (from the front of back), you'll find an open area. On the one side (I believe the front side) the area has cannons as seen in the picture on the left. From the other side, you encounter a miniature orchard of orange trees as depicted in the photo on the right.
It was quite interesting (and relaxing) to suddenly smell oranges when entering the building. We then went into some of the different rooms of the building and even saw where Salvador Allende was killed. To this day, it has not been proven as to whether he committed suicide or was murdered in the overthrow by Pinochet; however, many people have strong opinions on the matter.
Another interesting feature of the building was a chapel. Although the country has no official religion, a majority of the population is Roman Catholic. I believe a service is held in the chapel at least twice a week open to the public with at least one service being Roman Catholic and one being another denomination. It is being used to symbolize the acceptance of other religions since the government used to be integrally connected to the Roman Catholic Church. Here are some of the pictures I took in La Moneda.
