To make known the systematic human rights violations by the Chilean state between 1973 and 1990 so that ethical reflection about memory, solidarity and importance of human rights national.
Will be strengthened so that Never Again will these events that attack human dignity be repeated.
The Museum of Memory and Human Rights seeks to draw attention to human rights violations committed by the Chilean state between 1973 and 1990. Its mission is to allow dignity for victims and their families, stimulate reflection and debate and to promote respect and tolerance in order that these events never happen again.
It is a Bicentennial project, inaugurated on January 2010, by then President Bachelet. Its purpose is to promote educational initiatives that enhance knowledge and consideration. Its location, on Matucana Street, is also part of an ongoing effort to promote the cultural circuit of Santiago’s West Side.
Through objects, documents and archives presented in different settings and formats, as well as an innovative sight and sound presentation, it is possible to learn part of this history: the military coup, the repression that took place in the following years, the resistance movement, exile, international solidarity, reparation policies, among other issues.
The archives’ patrimony includes oral and written testimonies, legal documents, letters, tales, literary production, press clips, visual and radio material, feature films, historical material and documentary photos.
Its spaces for temporary exhibitions, its 8,000 square meter plaza, the auditorium and the public art pieces that are part of the architecture are intended to transform the Museum into a high profile cultural institution in Santiago.
The Museum of Memory and Human Rights is a dynamic and interactive space that rescues Chile’s recent history and recovers truth, which grows and reflects itself in a culture of respect for the dignity of individuals.
The Museum of Memory and Human Rights depends on a non-profit private foundation joined by academics, representatives of human rights organizations and people that generate a space of diversity in the heart of the institution.
In its board there are academics of universities that have human rights centers. It is also made up of human rights organizations in Chile, such as the Vicariate of Solidarity, the House of memory, and the Villa Grimaldi Peace Park Corporation. The rest of the members have been summoned at a personal level and because of their commitment with human rights and their support to the museum’s mission, whose objective is to draw attention on what happened in our country between September 11, 1973 and March 11, 1990 and educate and promote values that will allow the construction a society more caring, equal and tolerant.
The museum has several areas for the visitors.
Around the Museum of Memory and Human Rights you will find the Memory Square, a terrace accessed by an inclined ramp from Catedral Street; and a staircase on Chacabuco and Matucana Streets, which are also used as permanent galleries.
The Museum of Memory and Human Rights has two areas for temporary exhibitions, located on the third floor of the building. It is an 80 square meters and a 25.6 square meters hallway.
The Memory Gallery is a 350 square meters space, connecting the museum with the Quinta Normal Metro station in Santiago. It also has a microfilm room.
On one side of the museum’s terrace is the auditorium, an enclosed area where different activities can be held, such as film festivals, plays, seminars and gatherings.
The Documentation Center located in the level -2 of the building, has a collection of documents, text files, photographic files, iconographic archives, sound tracks, audiovisual materials and objects from the 1973-1990 period. It is located in the basement of the building.
Hours: Tuesday through Sunday 10.00 am to 8:00 pm.
Capacity: approximately 30 people.
Phone: 2597 96 87
Hours: Tuesday through Sunday from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm.
Phone: 2-597-96 94
The heritage materials gathered in the museum’s collections represent a key source for the knowledge, awareness, education and research development regarding human rights.
The museum holds collections that reflect the multiplicity of stories that make up the historical memory, in all its diversity and uniqueness, which include accounts of every daily life from that period throughout the national territory, as well as solidarity and the intervention of the international community regarding the human rights violations in Chile.
A key and indispensable source for knowledge and reconstruction of the recent past, they represent a basic contribution for research in different areas. The basis of their collections are the Documentary Fonds recognized by Unesco as part of the Memory of the World Program, specifically those from the organizations stored in the House of Memory: FASIC, Corporación de Promoción y Defensa de los Derechos del Pueblo (CODEPU), Fundación de Protección a la Infancia Dañada por los Estados de Emergencia (PIDEE) and Teleanálisis Archives, as well as several documents and objects from other human rights organizations in Chile and the world, organizations of victims and families, personal collections and documents generated by the state administration.
A series of objects representing the wide range of diversity of our historic memory of human rights and the victims.
The files collection is not only relevant because of its physical nature, it also represents a primary, key source for the knowledge of what took place.
The permanent exhibition in the Museum of Memory and Human Rights gathers important elements of its patrimony to describe the events that took place in Chile between September 1973 and March 10, 1990.
Through interactive resources and with diverse visual and acoustic settings the visitor can walk through the recent period of our history. It is an invitation to reflect on the attacks against the life and dignity of the people between September 11, 1973 and March 10, 1990. The idea is that these events must never take place again and that respect for human rights can turn into a permanent practice.
Through an Ideas contest organized by the Department of Museums of Dibam (Department of Libraries, Archives and Museums), the firm Arbol de Color S.A. was awarded the contract to design of the museum’s permanent exhibition of the, which undertaken with the museum’s staff and the Presidential Advisory Commission on Human Rights Policies.
