Located just one block from Santiago’s Plaza de Armas, the Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art is housed in one of the city’s most significant colonial buildings, originally constructed in 1805 as the Royal Customs Palace in neoclassical style.

Earlier, in 1635, the site hosted the Royal Convictory College of San Francisco Javier, later the Convictory Carolino de Nobles. During the Republic, it served various institutions, including the National Library and the Courts of Justice, until a devastating fire in 1968 destroyed much of the structure. Fortunately, the building was reconstructed in the 1980s and now serves as the home of this vital museum.