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Colchagua Valley Wine Route Colchagua Museum

ABOUT THE COLCHAGUA MUSEUM - in their own words:

The Colchagua Museum was designed to incorporate the concept of a journey through the history of the planet and humankind in the Americas. The tremendous variety of collections that founder Carlos Cardoen has gathered over the years allows visitors to explore paleontology, archaeology, and Pre-Colombian art from Chile and throughout the Americas, as well as the History of the Conquest, Colonial times and Independence of Chile and the Americas and through the Republican era. It also includes thematic rooms dedicated to such topics as Modernity, the History and Development of Arms, traditional huaso gear, Coaches and Carriages, Agricultural Machinery, and the Railroad.

Located in Santa Cruz, 200 km (125 mi) south of Santiago, the capital of Chile, the Colchagua Museum is the largest and most diverse private museum in Latin America. The museum is in the heart of the Colchagua region, a tradition-filled rural area, home to the huaso (the traditional Chilean countryman), and where the traditional festivals and way of life are still celebrated and conserved.

Colchagua’s booming wine industry has its roots in colonial times. Thanks to its excellent climate, soil, and geographic conditions, valley growers produce high-quality grapes for making fine wines that are now highly valued around the world.

The Museum collection is organized into 11 sections:

• Paleontology
• Paleoindio in Chile
• Precolumbian Art
• Conquest and Colonization
• Liturgical Art
• Independence
• Republic and the Pacific War
• Folklore, Cowboys, their tackle and carriages
• Agricultural machines
• Water Equipment
• Paleoindio stone structures.