National Congress of Chile

The Senate of the Republic of Chile is the upper house of Chile's bicameral National Congress, as established in the current Constitution of Chile.

The Chamber of Deputies (Spanish: Cámara de Diputadas y Diputados) is the lower house of Chile's bicameral Congress. Its organisation and its powers and duties are defined in articles 42 to 59 of Chile's current constitution.

Trolleybuses in Valparaíso, Chile, have provided a portion of the public transit service since 1952. The trolleybus system is the second-oldest in South America. The originally state-owned system has been privately owned since 1982, and since 1994 it has been Chile's only operational trolleybus system. Almost half of its vehicles were built in 1946–52 by the Pullman-Standard Company, and they are the oldest trolleybuses in regular service anywhere in the world. Those vehicles were collectively declared a national monument by the Chilean government in 2003. They helped the city gain its designation by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, and have been called "a heritage sight in their own right" by at least one travel writer.In 1991–1992 the system acquired several secondhand trolleybuses from four Swiss cities. Even these vehicles, already old at the time of acquisition, became historic in their continued service after some 45–50 years or more, with 1959-built ex-Zürich number 105 being the oldest articulated trolleybus of any make still in service on any trolleybus system worldwide for almost 20 years until its retirement in May 2015. In the late 2010s, a new group of secondhand Swiss trolleybuses, 18 1989-built NAWs from the Lucerne trolleybus system, replaced all of the older Swiss vehicles, and now make up more than half of the fleet, with vintage Pullman-Standard trolleybuses continuing to make up the remainder.The Valparaíso trolleybus system has become one of the icons of the city, considered an important part of its cultural heritage. Many porteños – as residents of this port city commonly call themselves – are fond of their city's distinctive and historic trolleybus service and have spoken up in its defense when the system has come under threat of closure. The private operating company receives no government subsidy, and at times it has struggled financially, putting the system in danger of being closed. One such occasion, the company's announcement in May 2007 of imminent closure plans, brought an outcry from local citizens, and even Chile's president, Michelle Bachelet, expressed support for keeping the trolleybuses going.Trolleybuses currently serve two routes, numbered 801 and 802 in a regional transportation plan implemented in 2007, Monday through Saturday, from about 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. There is no service on Sundays. Both routes connect Barón with Aduana, 801 via Avenida Pedro Montt, 802 via Avenida Colón and each is about 5 km (3 mi) long. The system is currently owned and operated by Trolebuses de Chile, S.A. Locally, the vehicles are often referred to as troles (trolleys), as opposed to trolebuses.

The Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaiso (Spanish: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso) (PUCV), also known as Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (UCV), is one of six Catholic universities in Chile and one of the two pontifical universities in the country, along with the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. Founded in 1928, it is located in Valparaíso Region and has about 18,000 students.It is recognized in Chile as an institution with high academic prestige and as a research university due to its acquired research funds and offered postgraduate degrees in the fields of science, engineering, humanities and arts. As a Catholic university, it answers directly to the Holy See and the Bishopric of Valparaíso. The PUCV is a traditional university and one of the twenty-five institutions within the Chilean Rectors' Council (Consejo de Rectores). Although it is not state-owned, a substantial part of its budget is given by state transfers under different programs. PUCV is an urban university. It has a central campus known as Casa Central (Central House) located in downtown Valparaíso, only a few blocks away from the Chilean Congress, the Metro, and the Pacific Ocean. One of the drawbacks of being an urban university is the difficulty of growing at the original site of its foundation, close to the city center. Hence, while some PUCV buildings are on the historic palm-tree-lined Avenida Brasil, severl of its schools are dispersed throughout Valparaíso, Viña del Mar, Quilpué and Quillota. At the 2019 edition of the América Economía magazine university ranking, the university was positioned 4th nationwide and the QS Latin America University Ranking of 2023 has placed it 22nd out of 428 qualifying institutions (and 5th nationwide). The university is accredited for seven years, the maximum number of years awarded by the National Accreditation Commission, for the period between 2021 and 2028. The PUCV, the University of Chile, the Catholic University, the University of Santiago and the University of Concepción are the only institutions in Chile that have received the highest number of years in accreditation. PUCV attracts students from different regions of Chile, as well as hundreds of exchange students from Europe, North America and several countries from South America, due to its student exchange programs.

Scuola Italiana Arturo Dell' Oro is a private Italian international school with campuses in Valparaíso and Viña del Mar in Chile. It serves this city and Vina del Mar and has scuola infanzia (preschool) through secondaria II grado (upper secondary school). The Viña del Mar is located in the Miraflores neighborhood.The Società Italiana d'Istruzione was established on 12 October 1912. It acquired land at Av. Yerbas Buenas to establish a permanent Italian school. 128 students attended its first classes in 1933. It moved to unfinished facilities in Av. Pedro Montt in 1941. The Viña del Mar school opened in 2003.

The Ascensor Barón, built in 1906, is a funicular located on its namesake hill in Valparaíso, Chile, and was declared a Historic Monument on September 1, 1998.

The Capilla del Carmen, also known as Capilla de la Medalla Milagrosa, is a chapel located on the lower flank of El Litre Hill, in El Almendral neighborhood of Valparaíso, Chile. Built in 1928, it was run by the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, who provided care to patients of the adjacent Hospital Carlos Van Buren until March 2017. The chapel was declared as a National Monument of Chile on May 20, 2003, within the category of Historic Monuments.

The Polanco Lift is a passenger elevator located in Valparaíso, Chile. It consists of three stations and connects Simpson Street with Polanco Hill. This lift is the only "true" elevator in the city, as all others are technically funiculars. Today it is more visited by tourists than by the local residents.

The Baron Hill (Spanish: Cerro Barón) is one of the 42 hills of the city of Valparaiso, Chile. It is located on the east end of the plan of the city, next to the Dairy Hill, and is a purely residential area. His name is that in 1795 the place was built a fort to protect the area from El Almendral and the northern part of the bay pirate attack, and to call it, the city council decided to pay tribute to Governor Ambrosio O'Higgins, who held the title of Baron of Ballenary, naming the fort finally as Fort of Baron Ballenary, finally giving the name to the hill. Its development began with the development of the sector of El Almendral and construction in 1852 and the station armory Baron, first railway station of Valparaiso to Santiago. Besides the hill going the only path to the city of Quillota. Also hosted a lot of Italian immigrants, who had business in the plan. On the hill is the Church of San Francisco, responsible for the nickname given to Valparaiso, Pancho, as it was the most recognizable by the sailors who came to the city. It is also the location of the Baron elevator, built in 1906.

San Francisco Church (Spanish: Iglesia de San Francisco) is a Catholic church located in Barón Hill, Valparaíso, Chile. The church served as lighthouse to the navigants who were arriving Valparaíso until the early 20th century, being the first recognizable point of the city. Valparaíso is often nicknamed with the diminutive form of Francisco: Pancho. The church was constructed by the Franciscan community. The construction works ended in 1846. The building was remodeled in 1890 by architect Eduardo Provasoli. The church was named National Monument of Chile on 19 July 1983. In the middle of a reconstruction process after the 2010 Chile earthquake, the church was severely damaged by a fire in September 2010. It was once again affected by a fire in August 2013 close to its re-inauguration by President Sebastián Piñera.

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.

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.