It was called Huelén by indigenous people; this Word means Sorrow, sadness or melancholy, this place use to be a sacred area where Indians made rituals to venerate their gods.
Then in 1541 Spanish soldiers commanded by Pedro de Valdivia got to this hill, and from here they had a perfect view to plan the new City of Santiago and also they were protected by the river called Mapocho that use to surround the hill at that time, from possible Indian attacks.
During the colony period this place didn’t suffer important changes and still kept the rocky and dry aspect until 1872 when Benjamin Vicuña Mackenna an intendant of Santiago decides to transform this rocky mountain into a green park when the city of Santiago was growing from the historical neighborhood to new areas.
The works had a length of two years and they use prisoners to make this possible, one of the hits inside this new park was Castillo Hidalgo
In between 1897 and 1903 the architect Victor Villenueve built the main entrance, on the main avenue “Alameda”(current Libertador Bernardo O´Higgins) the original idea was to honor Benjamin Vicuña Mackenna with a monument on the central fountain, but, the government didn’t have money enough to built the monument, that’s why it was replaced by Neptune that was at the west side of the hill.
At present Santa Lucia continues been a social and events center that usually is required by politicians, business groups, TV shows, visual artists and citizens that want to enjoy one of the most beautiful places in Santiago, also it has a very nice lookout at 70mts high, where you’ll have a panoramic view of the city.
