Lastarria district and Plaza Mulato Gil de Castro

You come down from the hill into the Lastarria district, the most bohemian corner of the centre. Its streets are named after José Victorino Lastarria, a nineteenth-century liberal writer and politician.

1From vineyards to neighbourhood

After the conquest, this land east of Santa Lucía was divided into estates with mills and some of the valley's first vineyards. Over time those plots were split into smaller holdings, and the lanes between them became streets. The neighbourhood grew around the Church of the Veracruz, which you will still see on Calle Lastarria with its reddish facade.

2A square to save facades

The little square you are standing in is not old: it opened in 1981 to preserve a group of townhouses at risk of disappearing. It is named after José Gil de Castro, known as the Mulato Gil, a painter from Lima who portrayed the heroes of independence, such as Bernardo O'Higgins and José de San Martín. Local tradition places his Santiago home on this spot.

Today the square brings together the Museum of Visual Arts, an archaeological museum, bookshops and cafés. From the 1990s the district filled with bars, theatres and cultural centres, and in 1996 it was declared a Typical Zone by the National Monuments Council.

In the late 1960s, some venues on these streets were also among the first meeting places of Santiago's gay community.

3What to look for

• The wooden balconies of the townhouses around the square.
• The entrance to the Museum of Visual Arts, with contemporary lines among old facades.
• Calle Lastarria, with its cobbles and the Church of the Veracruz.