“We will put the first stone of the Pereira Palace in Minecraft from virtuality”

During this weekend, El País and various historical places of the national territory prepare to face the version No. 26 of the Day of Patrimonies, which aims to link citizens With the architecture, history and public service of the Nation through thousands of cultural activities in 90% of the municipalities.

In that line and in an interview with the confusion, the Undersecretary of Cultural Heritage, Carolina Pérezaddressed the sustained growth of the patrimonial panoramas during the current government and stressed that this year the 3,600 activities were reached nationwide, exceeding the 3,000 goal of the previous year.

Likewise, he celebrated the High call they had last year and said they hope that this year the number of 2024 attendees will be exceeded. “We always say that the Day of Patrimonies is the heritage, cultural, most democratic party in the country, because it is in all territories,” he added.

Post-pandemic recovery and program growth

“How have these days of assets been since you entered the government?” What has been the balance of all those activities that have been carried out to date?

When we had to enter this government, we entered a pandemic, therefore the diagnosis we had of the cultural sector in general, not only patrimonial, was that we had had a pandemic that had forced us to stay in the house, to stop occupying public spaces. Then we put a lot of emphasis on recovering the heritage program.

We emphasized the versions of the Day of Patrimonies. In addition, last year we celebrated 25 years of this public policy, so we have also placed a lot of emphasis to be able to increase the number of activities, but we also did it with, for example, to make the day of the assets of children and adolescents, museum night, which was not done six years ago in our country again.

The Day of the Patrimonies was born in 1999, this is the 26th edition only in Santiago, with about 11 heritage buildings that open. And today, 26 years after that first day of assets, we find a cultural party that is no longer only in Santiago, is in all regions of the country, and not only that is in more than 90% of the communes of Chile.

We always say that the Day of Patrimonies is the heritage, cultural, most democratic party in the country, because it is in all territories, because it tells us about the cultural diversity of all territories, and also because it is a party that summons the State, but does not make the State alone.

It opens public, state museums, opens public libraries, but also open spaces that are in charge of private, such as Torres confectionery, and also the community with neighboring boards activities in their different heritage neighborhoods, different community organizations. Therefore, this is a really democratic cultural party that we build all.

Record numbers: 3,000 to 3,600 activities

– Do they have any balance in numbers of how many people participated during the government? Have you seen any increase in people’s interest in all these activities?

We have a very interesting balance. We last year put ourselves as a goal to reach 3,000 activities and this year we have already reached 3,600, therefore we can see that in the last three years we have been growing the amount of activities that are registered.

That obeys a work of the regional addresses and the seremia of culture in all territories, also obeys the different training that have historically been done in the territory so that people know what kind of activities can propose within the framework of the Day of Patrimonies.

Last year we also arrived at a record that was 1,600,000 face -to -face visits. This year we want, of course, to increase that figure and I hope that on Monday, having spent the weekend, we can get cheerful numbers exceeding last year’s visits.

The unmissable activities: from the Pereira Palace to Puerto Río Calm

“Can you summarize what are the activities in Santiago that you most stand out?” What will you be? What are the most popular?

During the weekend there are several very interesting activities. For people who like heritage buildings, we will be in the Pereira Palace, which is part of the headquarters of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage. We will be with an exhibition on sport and heritage, a sports social club.

We will also be putting the first stone of the Pereira Palace in Minecraft, because we have realized that younger people are also part of our cultural heritage from the world of virtuality.

We will be obviously in the Palacio de la Moneda, which is iconic. To me as Undersecretary I had to meet the palace of La Moneda as a girl, for a day of heritage with my parents. There will also be, like last year, a reproduction of the president’s desk so that children can imagine as presidents and presidents of the Republic. They will also open iconic spaces such as the Unión Club, such as the Cousiño Palace.

We also have other activities that are very interesting and I always emphasize that they are throughout Chile because we have activities that have to do, for example, with the intangible cultural heritage. We will be seeing activities to places as remote as Puerto Río Calilo, in the Aysén region, where they will come together to cook casserole, which is also part of the gastronomic heritage, and see the photography exhibition in Puerto Cisnes.

I highlight in the Metropolitan Region the patrimonial route of the Matta Sur neighborhood, which is south of the Alameda and that is also part of the urban history of Santiago. It will open the General Treasury of the Republic, we found it very interesting so that people can know the fiscal history of Chile. He will receive those who go to Florida Gerónimo Alderete, in charge of the public treasure in the history of our country, therefore it will be a day full of history.

We will also have the heritage festival, as well as last year, Saturday and Sunday, from half past three in the afternoon. There will be Santa Feria, will be Judas, therefore it will also be a day full of music, but there will also be, for example, duel between payadores and freestyle rescuing these also immaterial traditions such as the world of paya, the world of the tenth and as dialogue with the people who today make freestyle.

The idea is also to say that our assets are current, they are in force, they are part of our history and is a weekend especially to value it and also to feel pride of our own national culture.

Practical Guide: How to participate in the Day of Patrimonies

“Where can you find more information about these activities?” Where are the activities, what are the requirements, where can you register?

All information is available in diadospatrimonios.cl. This is a web page that has all the information with different filters by activity. Therefore, you can look for heritage tours, workshops, buildings that will be open, specific activities for children and adolescents, with a filter by region, with a filter per commune so they can organize their Sunday.

There are many activities that require registration, therefore it is important that they can register before. In addition to this there are 18 national parks, reserves and natural monuments that will be open for free during the Day of Patrimonies. To visit them you also have to enter a website that is www.pasesparques.cl where you must also reserve previously to be able to enter for free.

Long -term policies and new patrimonial legislation

“What do you expect for the future?” What is the projection of these activities?

Regardless of the government on duty, we care that these activities and public policy remains, because it does well as a country, it does well to Chile, it does well to the citizens and the communities. From that perspective, we, we have a year of government, we will be deepening the work we have done from the sector, especially linked to this year’s budget year, which is very important in the context of being able to increase the budget in culture even more.

We during this government launch a patrimonial education policy, also launch a national digital assembly strategy, we are now in the process of updating the museum policy because we want to improve public policy. What we expect is also to leave public policies that are projected for many more years and allow citizens to continue enjoying their assets.

I also want to add that we are in the discussion in the Senate, in the second process, in the Culture Commission of the New Patrimonial Legislation. This is a legislation that recognizes the immaterial cultural heritage for the first time, which is something very important, categories such as cultural landscape. Days like this and weekends as this also contribute to the fact that we see as a country that it is necessary to update our laws and modernize the way we protect the assets.