Museum of National History of Chile

The Museum of National History of Chile occupies the former Palace of the Royal Audiencia, a sober neoclassical building that overlooks the Plaza de Armas. You can identify the structure by its rows of arches and balconies that face the square, where colonial power was once organized around church, government, and law. Completed in eighteen oh eight, this building served as the Spanish Crown's highest court in Chile before housing republican authorities and the national government.