Heritage Sites in Chile are distributed throughout the country and are five in number, as recognized currently by the UNESCO. These sites offer an insight into the historical and cultural growth of the country. There are five heritage sites of Chile and they are effective
pointers of the various phases of growth in the history of Chile as a whole and those places in particular. Heritage sites at Chile are also important in the perspective of the development of the human culture. Chilean heritage sites are reflective of the generality of human condition and culture throughout the world.
The five heritage sites of Chile are:
- Churches of Chiloe
- Rapa Nui National Park, Easter Island
- Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works
- Valparaiso
- Sewell, Chile
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The Churches of Chiloe represent a singular instance of a spectacular kind of wooden ecclesiastical architecture in Latin America, exemplifying the impalpable profuseness of the Chiloe Archipelago, and attesting to a fortunate merger of European and indigenous culture. These churches exemplify a total symbiosis between its architecture with the environment, as well as to the spiritual belief of the communities.
The native name of Easter Island, Rapa Nui, is an example of an unparalleled ethnic process. Free from any outside determinant a Polynesian society settled there around circa. A.D. 300 creating a mighty, productive and original custom of colossal architecture and sculpture; building altars and raising monumental stone figures called moai, in the process creating a unique cultural landscape that still attracts fascinated people from the entire world.
The three other heritage sites of Chile are representative of more modern colonial and industrial culture of the country, with only Valparaiso, the most important port of Chile, still inhabited by a growing population. Although Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works and Sewell are today ghost towns, once they were prosperous, highly populated places contributing heavily to the society and economy of Chile. But yet these are symbols of Man's resilience and daring and ingenuity in the face of apparently insurmountable challenges.
