Basilica de la Merced

Magnificent colonial basilica in central Santiago with a church museum and an outstanding art collection.

The Basílica Nuestra Señora de la Merced stands as one of Santiago's finest colonial monuments. The Mercedarian Order — founded to ransom Christian captives — established its first Chilean house here in the 16th century, and the current baroque church retains the grandeur of that era: a towering façade, richly decorated nave, and an on-site museum housing one of Chile's most important collections of colonial religious art. The Vatican has granted it the honorary title of Minor Basilica. Protected as a national heritage site, it offers a tangible connection to the Spanish colonial past and the long history of Catholic devotion in South America.