The Museum of Memories – 4/20/2013
Apr 21st, 2013 by rallyadmin
In 1973, Chile’s military led by General Augusto Pinochet staged a coup d’etat and over threw the elected government of Salvadore Allende. Allende, an avowed Marxist, we viewed by the military as a threat to turn Chile into a Cuban style communist state. The anti-communist military vowed that this would never happen deposed Allende and his government.
The military dictatorship that followed used detention camps, torture, disappearances, assassinations and murder to purge the country first of the Marxists, communists and trade-unionists. In the 18 years that followed the coup, thousands of people were rounded up and simply disappeared. Some were executed but many were just never seen again leaving their families and friends to wait and search for answers that would never come.
After the country returned to democracy, investigation commissions began the grisly search for the missing. In Santiago, there is the Museum of Memories that tells the story of the years of the dictatorship and the unraveling of the secrecy surrounding the murders and disappearances.
We take the metro to a stop near the museum and walk over. The building is a stately green block that appears to be raised above the surrounding ground level. A broad, funneling ramp leads you down to the entrance. The articles of the Constitution of Humans Rights are inscribed on the left hand wall.
At the bottom of the ramp, to the left there is an artwork constructed of 850 different colored jackets draped in the rising wall of seats. They symbolize the plight of the oppressed throughout the world. Opposite is the entrance to the museum.
We enter the museum and leave the cameras and bag that I’m carrying. Sadly but understandably, photography and video is not allowed out of respect for the victims of the Pinochet dictatorship. There is no admission fee, just a small charge for hand-held recorder that explain the different displays in the museum.
As you enter the display area, there is a cross that was found at an area of a mass grave called Area 29. Area 29 was an area were many detainees were executed and buried. The cross was found when the remains of the victims was first discovered. A huge photo mural leads up the right side of large staircase that leads to the museum proper.
The first area is a collection of video kiosks that describe the actual coup. But what dominates the area is a three story wall that holds thousands of pictures of the dead and disappeared. It is a very moving display with pictures of young, old, men, women, boys, girls, some informal pictures, others graduation or passport photos. All of them the victims of the dictatorship.
The rest of the museum is a small displays of the different events of the dictatorship. Many of the displays deal with information discovered by the commissions that investigated the years of the dictatorship, the torture, the executions, the assassinations, the political life inside and outside the country.
You slowly begin to wonder how this could have gone on for so long and how the leaders of the coup and dictatorship could have escaped justice. The answer is that many Chileans were as anti-communist as the military and the dictatorship had support from a great many Chileans. Of course, many didn’t know of the murders and disappearances but many just turned a blind eye. The leaders appear to have escaped justice as a price of reconciliation and moving forward.
We leave the museum and head back to the metro. We’re going to the funicular at San Cristobal. At the top of the about 2,000 foot high hill there is a large statue of the Virgin Mary amidst a small forest of radio and TV antennas. A few stops later we emerge at the Banquedano station and head through the streets dominated by the University of San Sebastien. It’s an earthy area with cafes and bars and hundreds of people strolling in the now bright sunlight, a good counterpoint to the museum experience.
At the base of the hill, we enter the line for the funicular. A funicular is a type of cable car that rides on a set of rails rather than suspended from a cable in the air. A suspended cable car is called a gondola or tram.
A funicular has 2 cars, one at each end of a cable. As one car goes up the other car descends. In the middle of the track where the cars would meet, the track splits into two so that the cars can pass each other. The genius of the funicular is that it takers very little power to run since the weight of the descending car help pull the ascending can up the track.
At the top, we climb the remaining couple of hundred feet to the base of the statue and take in the view of the city below. It’s a bright sunny afternoon and, even with the ever-present smog, it’s an impressive sight. We take in the view, take some pictures and head back down.
It’s already after 5:00 and we haven’t eaten since breakfast so we search out a small restaurant along the main neighborhood street. We order some beer and plates of steak, french fries, onions and two fried eggs. It’s certainly not the most common thing I’ve ever ordered.
When it arrives, I’m a little taken back by the size of the pile of food. The plate is covered with fries with the onions off to one side. The two eggs are placed on top of the center of the mound of fries and the steak is placed along side.
We’re hungry and dive right in. But finishing this pile takes some work. Actually, a lot of work. At the end of the meal, we decide that the only thing that will save us is a walk and then a taxi back to the hotel. But there aren’t any cabs and we’re at the metro station and actually feeling a bit less bloated after the walk so it’s into the metro again and the short 5 stop ride back to the hotel.
We’re back by 8 and it’s been a long day. Check email, watch Game of Thrones in English (subtitled in Spanish) and finally sleep.
Tomorrow, we’re trying to find a pro football (soccer) game. That should be, how you say, “different”.
Obi-wan