Plaza de la Ciudadanía

Plaza de la Ciudadanía, Citizenry Square) is a public square located in the southern façade of the Palacio de La Moneda (Chile's presidential palace) in Santiago. It used to be part of the grass garden and parking area of the Palace.
Construction began in November 2004, as part of the Bicentennial Projects (a series of public works initiated by the executive branch all over the country for the purpose of celebrating the nation's 200 years of independence). The first stage of the works, inaugurated in January 2006, featured as centerpiece the Centro Cultural Palacio de La Moneda ("La Moneda Palace Culture Centre"), a large underground cultural facility, as well as two water mirrors, two lines of fountains, a new underground parking area and the relocation of the statue of former-president Alessandri.

Water fountains and the statue of the President Alessandri

In the future, the nearby Alameda Avenue will go underground, allowing to connect the Plaza directly with the Paseo Bulnes (Bulnes Boulevard), respecting the original design of the Barrio Cívico de Santiago ("Civic Quarter"), with a grand perspective from the Palace and other government buildings down the Boulevard. This third phase of the project is still pending final approval.

Centre Gabriela Mistral

The Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral (GAM) is a cultural center located on 227 Av. Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins, in Santiago de Chile. The complex was originally built to serve as the headquarters for the third UNCTAD conference, which was held in Santiago in 1972, and consisted of a convention center and an adjoining 22-stories building. The building was finished in only 275 days in a significant effort supported by several thousand volunteers. This effort was part of a major propaganda initiative performed by the socialist government of Salvador Allende, in power between the end of 1970 and September 1973 .After the conference, the building was used as a cultural center until the 1973 Chilean coup d'état. After the end of the Pinochet regime, it hosted a number of conventions and the adjacent tower became the main building for the Ministry of National Defense. The complex was damaged by a fire in 2006 and later remodeled to serve as a cultural center.

The Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral was inaugurated in September 2010 and is named after Gabriela Mistral.