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Valparaiso sketching jewel of the Pacific

Valparaiso sketching jewel of the Pacific

Ex German School in Valparaiso, Chile

[By Erika Brandner in Valparaiso, Chile]

This post is about the Port of Valparaiso in Chile. A city with a glorious past known as the "golden age" in the nineteenth century: it served as a major stopover for ships traveling between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by crossing the Strait of Magellan. I was a magnet for European immigrants, the largest communities came from Britain, Germany, and Italy, each developing their own hillside neighbourhood, preserved today as National Historic Districts or "Zonas Típicas." Each community built its own churches and schools, while many also founded other noteworthy cultural and economic institutions. Thet settled here and transformed it in a cosmopolitan city totally connected with Europa.

In 2003, the historic quarter of Valparaíso was declared a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site becaus it is  



I have been studying and visiting Valparaiso for years, first with my family and recently as a tour guide. Numerous are the examples I have seen of this early globalization but what have impressed me more was the so calle "Victorian Internet": a thick cable covered with gutapercha (the same thing that dentists used) installed in the ground of the ocean that connected and communicated Valparaiso with London...in the nineteenth century! Amazing. It is possible to see a sample of those cables in "Villa Victoria", an interactive museum that tells the history of Valparaíso that deserves a visit.

Valparaíso is located 111.8 kilometres (69.5 miles) northwest of Santiago de Chile

Valparaiso from the nineteenth century was far more developed than the capital Santiago: there was Latin America´s oldest stock exchange, the oldest Bank in Chile, the first public library , the oldest spanish language newspaper and the oldest fire company, a world-class port, the first public transportation system, the first public lighting system, the first cemetery for non catholics, the most important food factories and cookies, the best quality imported clothes and silks, the first brewery....etc. From the port of Valparaiso Chile exported nitrate to Europe and this allowed some chilean families become rich, travel to France, bring french architects to build their palaces and the wineyards.

But after this apogee came the fall, caused by the construction of the Panama Canal, the discovery of the synthetic nitrate and the crisis of the 1930s. Abandoned or destroyed by the many cataclysms and natural disasters like earthquakes, fires and also a bombarding from the spanish navy.

Up: Fast sketch of the hills and the port made from a tourist boat. Down right: war boat

Today, Valparaiso lives from tourism. Although it is the port, that continues to be a major distribution center for container traffic, copper, and fruit export and the approximately 50 international cruise ships that call on Valparaíso during the 4-month Chilean summer. But the port continually  generates friction with the community because of the almost nul contribution to the development of the city, leaving no income or taxs in favor of Valparaiso (port owners are spanish and german holdings) and taking each year more portion of the coastal edge, preventing the “porteño” or so called inhabitant of Valparaiso access to the sea.

 

This was the view from the port I had from in my hotel room.

Valparaiso is also the First Navy Zone of Chile and that is why tourists and chilean families can passed in a touristic boat ride near to the side of the chilean army frigates. Sometimes it is possible to see the "Esmeralda" school ship, a steel-hulled four-masted barquentine tall ship. All this from the Prat wharf, where the Port functions and near Sotomayor Square. There is also a beautiful neoclassical building, actual headquarters of the Chilean Navy and the Monument and mausoleum of our Pacific War heroes.

I made this sketch early in the morning when the port workers ended their night shift. This is the Sotomayor Square and behind, the Navy Main Quarters and the Iquique Battle Monument (Pacific War Heroes)

Chilean marines, left: a gard that was at the entrance of the navy headquarters  / right: officiers

Many thousands of tourists visit Valparaíso each year. And thet have different opinions about it. The majority is impressed of its colors and do not stop taking photos from each viewpoint and from the citys labyrinth of cobbled alleys and colorful building. They admire the graffiti that fills it with art. Other - thankfully only a few - only see the dirt, the decadence and scribbles and scratches in the walls. The two points of view are  true. There are good murals and there are many scratches. There is dirt and dog shit in the streets. There are many old houses that were restored and function as boutique hotels, galleries, cafes and hostels and there are also a lot of very poor houses. Everything mixed in a colorful

View of the Yugoslavian Square in Alegre Hill, Valparaiso. Left to right: Colombina Restaurant and Hotel, Astoreca Palast Hotel and only a corner of the Baburizza Palast, Valparaiso Museum of Arts.

It is impossible to appreciate Valparaiso without knowing a little about its history and look at it with the eyes of the nostalgia, with affection and appreciation. Artists, designers, architects and poets love its 45 hills, 16 famous funiculars (formerly were about 30) and old trolley buses. It is not difficult to figure why Valparaiso is the Culture Capital of Chile, with festivals every year, and street artists and musicians. That love made the chilean poet Pablo Neruda build one of his houses in the Florida Hill. With a gorgeous view and full with collective items, it is  today the most visited museum in the city. He wrote about love, humanity, simple things and for sure, about Valparaiso:

La Sebastiana. Pablo Nerudas house in Valparaiso.  This is me during a Tour sketching Pablo Neruda´s House LA SEBASTIANA while the tourists visited the house. Behind me the view to the sea.

I love Valparaiso. I dream that there is a future and that the recovery that began over the past 15 years continues. I like that feeling of spaciousness that I have when I walk its hills. I like its ancient cemeteries with its history and calm. I like the fact that there are no right angles in Valparaiso, that every corner has interesting angles and multiple shapes to draw. It is not necessary to search for composition, it is already there. Each location offers the perfect setting for a sketch or a watercolor. It is no doubt one of the best cities for drawing in Chile.

Casa Crucero y Bavestrello Building. An example of the interesting sketching views in Valparaiso.

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