Greater Valparaíso

The Arco Británico (Spanish for British Arch) is a monument on Avenida Brasil, in Valparaíso, Chile. It was donated to the town in 1910 by the British community there to mark the centenary of the Independence of Chile. Designed by the Chilean architect Alfredo Azancot, the arch was unveiled in 1911.The monument, covered in marble brought from Italy, is surmounted by a British Victorian lion and is decorated with the images of four Britons who participated in the Chilean War of Independence: Thomas Cochrane, Bernardo O'Higgins, Robert Simpson and Jorge O'Brien. It also bears the Chilean and United Kingdom coats of arms. The arch was visited by Queen Elizabeth II during her official visit to Chile in 1968, and by Prince Charles in 2009.

Valparaíso (Spanish: [balpaɾaˈiso]) is a major city, commune, seaport and naval base in the Valparaíso Region, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Despite only being the second largest city in the metropolitan area of Greater Valparaíso, with the first being Viña del Mar, Valparaíso serves as the namesake for the region due to its historical and cultural significance. Valparaíso is located about 120 km (75 mi) northwest of Santiago by road and is one of the Pacific Ocean's most important seaports. Valparaíso is the capital of Chile's second most populated administrative region and has been the headquarters for the Chilean Navy since 1817 and the seat of the Chilean National Congress since 1990. Valparaíso played an important geopolitical role in the second half of the 19th century when it served as a major stopover for ships traveling between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by crossing the Straits of Magellan. Valparaíso experienced rapid growth during its golden age, as a magnet for European immigrants, when the city was known by international sailors as "Little San Francisco" and "The Jewel of the Pacific". Notable inheritances from its golden age include Latin America's oldest stock exchange, the continent's first volunteer fire department, Chile's first public library, and the oldest Spanish language newspaper in continuous publication in the world, El Mercurio de Valparaíso. In 2003, the historic quarter of Valparaíso was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The twentieth century was unfavorable to Valparaíso, as many wealthy families abandoned the city. The opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 and the associated reduction in ship traffic dealt a serious blow to Valparaíso's port-based economy. In the 21st century the port of San Antonio has surpassed Valparaíso in trade volume (TEU) handled, leading to the questioning of its traditional moniker Puerto Principal ("Main Port" of Chile).Over the first 15 years of the twenty-first century, the city reached a recovery, attracting artists and cultural entrepreneurs who have set up in the city's hillside historic districts. Today, many thousands of tourists visit Valparaíso from around the world to enjoy the city's labyrinth of cobbled alleys and colorful buildings. The port of Valparaíso continues to be a major distribution center for container traffic, copper, and fruit exports. Valparaíso also receives growing attention from cruise ships that visit during the South American summer. Most significantly, Valparaíso has transformed itself into a major educational center with four large traditional universities and several large vocational colleges. The city is known for its bohemian culture, with festivals every year and street artists and musicians.

The Cemetery of Dissidents is a cemetery located on the Panteón hill, in front of the Cemetery nº 1 and at one side of the old city jail (now a cultural center) in Valparaíso, Chile. It was created in 1825 to hold the remains of the British and other Europeans residents, whose Protestant faith differed from the official state religion at the time; Roman Catholicism.In the early 19th century, immigrants to Valparaíso who were not Catholic were forbidden from being buried in Catholic cemeteries; as such, they were buried on Playa Ancha hill, or simply thrown into the sea. In 1823 British consul George Seymour, with the aid of mayor Robert Simpson, bought some land at one side of the city jail, to build a special cemetery for "dissidents" (i.e. those who did not adhere to the Catholic faith.)The cemetery is divided into eight sections and has nearly 800 graves. Most of the burials belong to immigrants of British, German and American origin. Inside Cemetery No. 1, there is a monument dedicated to the American sailors who died during the 1814 Battle of Valparaiso, when the USS Essex was captured by the English ships Cherub and Phoebe.There is also a monument dedicated to Reverend David Trumbull, founder of the Presbyterian Church of the city.In 1883, religious discrimination in municipal cemeteries was abolished. Until that year, the Cemetery of Dissidents also housed non-Catholics who had died in other cities such as Santiago and La Serena.The cemetery suffered damages in the 1906 and 2010 earthquakes. Renovations in 2011 subsequently included a new memorial "Plaza of the immigrant".

Panteón (Pantheon) Hill in one of the 42 hills of the city of Valparaíso, Chile. It is surrounded by Ecuador and Cumming Streets and it has its base on Condell Street. It is next to Cárcel (Jail) Hill and Panteón Hill is part of the central chain of Valparaíso's hills. Panteón is Spanish for cemetery. It is named Cemetery Hill because three cemeteries of the city can be found on the hill: the Cemetery No. 1, the Dissidents Cemetery and the Cemetery No. 2.At the beginning of the 19th century, the people of Valparaíso used to bury their dead by letting them wash away in the ocean or on the tops of hills. These unsanitary practices eventually caused a health crisis. In 1825, the government bought some lands to found a cemetery on the hill on the periphery of the city. The Catholics originally created the cemetery nº1, and with the help of British immigrants a second one was created to bury at those not of the Catholic faith, called Dissidents Cemetery. Cemetery nº2 was created in 1848.

The Plan de Valparaíso is the name given to the flat part of Valparaíso, Chile, where public and commercial buildings are found, distinguishing it from the hills (cerros) where the majority of the population live.Traditionally, the plan is divided into sectors Barrio Puerto, originally the nucleus of the city, and El Almendral, a preferentially dedicated trade zone.

Biblioteca Santiago Severin is a public library located in Valparaiso, Chile. It was the first public library created with the consent of the Chilean government and was established on February 27, 1873. It holds 80,000 volumes. The current building was built between 1912 and 1919, was damaged during the February 27, 2010 earthquake and later restored. It was declared National Monument in 1998.

The Cathedral of St. James (Spanish: Catedral de Santiago en Valparaíso), in Valparaíso, Chile, is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Valparaíso in Chile. Also known simply as Valparaíso Cathedral, the cathedral church is located in the neighborhood of El Almendral neighborhood, on the east side of the Plaza de la Victoria. Currently, the church also serves as parish church for the Holy Spirit Parish, whose former church also faced the square, though on another site. The wedding of Captain Arturo Prat and Carmela Carvajal had been celebrated at the former church. The Gothic Revival cathedral church was built from 1910 to 1950 on land donated by Juana Ross Edwards. It was restored after the earthquakes of 1971 and 1985.

The Valparaíso Region (Spanish: Región de Valparaíso, pronounced [balpaɾaˈiso]) is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. With the country's second-highest population of 1,790,219 as of 2017, and fourth-smallest area of 16,396.1 km2 (6,331 sq mi), the region is Chile's second most densely populated after the Santiago Metropolitan Region to the southeast. The region also includes Chile's remote islands of the Pacific Ocean, including Rapa Nui and the Juan Fernandez Islands. Its capital is the port city of Valparaíso; other important cities include Viña del Mar, Quillota, San Felipe, Quilpué, Villa Alemana, and San Antonio.

The Cementerio N° 1 de Valparaíso is a cemetery located in the Panteón Hill, immediately north of the Cementerio de Disidentes, in Valparaíso, Chile. Created in 1825, it was declared as a National Monument of Chile in 2005, within the category of Historic Monuments.

The Plaza Aníbal Pinto is a plaza built on reclaimed land in Valparaíso, Chile. Formerly Plaza del Orden, Plaza Aníbal Pinto is named after Aníbal Pinto. It features a fountain called "Fuente de Neptuno" (Fountain of Neptune), which was erected in 1892.

The University of Valparaíso (UV) is a state public university in Chile, with its headquarters and the majority of its campuses in the city of Valparaíso. It has several other campuses in the Valparaiso Region of Chile (Quinta Región) and in Santiago, which is 100 km from Valparaiso. Taking its current name as an autonomous university on February 12, 1981, UV is heir to the most longstanding higher education tradition in Valparaiso and its region. As the major Pacific port south of San Francisco, Valparaiso was an important centre of business in the nineteenth century. Formal studies in law began there in 1878. By 1911, teaching had evolved into Chile’s first regional School of Law, part of the national University of Chile (UCH, which in turn can trace its origins back through two colonial universities to 1622, some 82 years after the Spanish began their colonisation of today’s central Chile). Two private universities would form in Valparaiso in the 1920s and 1930s—what would become Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María (UTFSM, or USM) and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (PUCV, or UCV)—as state-backed higher education was also consolidated under the aegis of the national Universidad de Chile system. In 1972, public university education in Valparaiso was organized as a Seat (Sede) of UCH; UV inherited all of this except for the Teaching Institute, which would eventually become the basis of the Universidad de Playa Ancha. On February 12, 1981 the University of Valparaiso adopted its present name and autonomous form. The creation of public regional universities was an important component of the economic reforms undertaken under the military rule that lasted until 1990. UV is one of sixteen members of the Consortium of State Universities of Chile. All of these took their more or less current structure following a decision to divide the Universidad de Chile and the State Technical University into autonomous entities. UV and all state universities are among the 25 members of Chile’s Council of University Rectors (“CRUCH”); these 25 are often referred to as the “traditional” universities, as opposed to the other “new private” universities. UV is also in the Grouping of Regional Universities of Chile, all of whose members are public and have been discussed (in English) together as public regional universities.Higher education contributing much to its economy, Valparaiso is Chile's "college town". Three other traditional universities are based in Valparaiso – UTFSM, PUCV and "Universidad de Playa Ancha" (UPLA) – all of these are organized more in a “campus” style than UV, although Católica has departments strewn throughout the city and branch campuses in the region. UV’s various faculties and schools form a university quarter the length of the plain (plano') 'of central Valparaiso, between the main UPLA campus in the south and in the north the main PUVC building. Since January 2021 the rector of the university has been Osvaldo Corrales.

St. Paul's Cathedral (Spanish: Catedral de San Pablo) is a historic Anglican church in Valparaíso, Chile. Located in Cerro Concepción in the historic British section of Valparaíso, St. Paul's has been a National Monument of Chile since 1979 and a cathedral since 2016.