Church of San Francisco

This red church, which looks small beside the Alameda, is the oldest building in Santiago. It has survived more earthquakes than any other structure in the city.

1The conquistador's Virgin

After founding Santiago, Pedro de Valdivia asked for land to build a hermitage for the Virgin of Succour, a small image that, according to tradition, he had carried on the saddle-bow of his horse. The town council gave him this spot, then on the outskirts, on an arm of the Mapocho known as La Cañada, today the Alameda.

Tradition holds that during the indigenous attack on Santiago in September 1541, the Virgin appeared in the fighting and threw earth into the attackers' eyes. It is a devotional tale, not a proven fact, but it explains why the image, still on the high altar, was venerated as the city's protector.

2Stone against earthquakes

The Franciscans first built an adobe church, which collapsed in 1583. The present one, with thick stone walls, was finished in the early seventeenth century. The great earthquake of 1647 tore down its tower, but the walls held. The tower you see today dates from 1857 and is the work of Fermín Vivaceta.

In the adjoining convent, the San Francisco Museum looks after the Nobel Prize legacy of Gabriela Mistral, who entrusted it to the Franciscan order.

3What to look for

• The stone walls painted red, the same for four centuries.
• Vivaceta's clock tower, in nineteenth-century style.
• Calle Londres, at the side, opened over the convent's old orchards.