SANTIAGO DE CHILE

 

The capital city of Chile, the five million strong Santiago, is the place where Croatian immigrants would flock to from other parts of Chile, whether for education or work, in the same manner as the rest of the world, when people leave more provincial areas for a metropolis. In the big city, the characteristics of a small country such as Croatia are harder to spot, but are still present.

 

The national advisory of the Ministry of Health is named after Juan Damianović.

Santiago de Chile has a Croatian square called the Plaza Republica de Croacia, which was opened on the 26th of June, 2011, to mark the 20th anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Croatia. It is located in the Vitacura district.

 

 

Santiago Plaza Croacia

 

Santiago de Chile, Plaza Republica de Croacia (photo courtesy of Renee and Ivana Ivin)

 

 

 

     At the Croatian square, on a black marble base, the first stanza of the Croatian national anthem is carved onto an angled surface, while the front face has the Croatian national crest on it.

Hrv trg 2

 

Santiago de Chile, Plaza Republica de Croacia (photo courtesy of Renee and Ivana Ivin)

 

 

 

In the Vitacura district there is a roundabout called Perez Zujovic, which connects Vitacura with its neighboring Las Condes district, and is dedicated to Edmund Perez Zujovic from Antofagasta. There are plans to move the roundabout by 2017, as part of a larger remodeling of the eastern section of the city. This isn’t the only thing that the capital city dedicated to the former minister. The Universidad de Chile offers its students the Perez Zujovic scholarship.

 

 

Rotonda Zujovic

 

 

Aside from Zujovic’s bypass in Santiago, there are streets called Istria, Karlovac, Makarska, Split, Dalmacia, Pula, and Zadar. There are also passes with the following names: Brach, Bukovina, Castelnovi, Croacia, Dubronic, Lika, Makarska, Nevenka, Novi, Pag, Papa Sime, Mama Kristina, Preradovic, Rab, Dalmacia, Skradin, Split, Stric Mate, Senj, Trogir, Vir, Vuk, Mar Adriatico, Yadran, and Zagreb, as well as Dalmacia square.

 

Two ladies born in Antofagasta also received their spot in the capitol, beyond their hometown. They are Lenka Franulić and Lily Garafulić.

 

In the city’s Ñuñoa district lies the Colegio Lenka Franulic high school of journalism. Back in distant 1957, Lenka Franulić was the first woman in the history of Chile who won a national award for journalism. After her death, an award was created in her honour, called the Premio nacional del periodismo Lenka Franulic, which is only awarded once to any individual.

 

 

colegio Lenka F

 

Lenka Franulić school of journalism

 

 

 

11_lenka_franulic

 

 

 

There is another school in Santiago de Chile called Escuela Republica de Croacia.

 

Lily Garafulić was born in Antofagasta, in 1914, and passed away in her 98th year in Santiago, where she spent most of her life. She graduated sculpture at the Universidad de Chile. She continued her schooling in Paris, where she met Constantin Brancusi, an abstract sculptor, which set the path for her future work. She lived in New York thanks to a scholarship from the Guggenheim Foundation. In the sixties of the 20th century, she looked for inspiration in the old cultures of Easter Island and Machu Picchu. In 1995, she was given a national award for achievements in art. She held the position of the director of the Museum of Fine Arts, taught at the Universidad de Chile, and was made emeritus after she retired at the faculty. It is estimated that she made around 300 sculptures over the 80 years of her work. Her most famous pieces are the 16 skulptura proroka (16 sculptures of the prophet) on the dome of the Nuestra señora de Lourdes basilica in Santiago de Chile, which was 3.5m tall. The dome was designed by her brother, architect Andres Garafulić.[1]

 

 

The Camara Chilena del Libro in the Providencia district named one of its auditoriums Sala Lily Garafulic.

 

 

Lily

 

Lily Garafulić (1914 – 2012)

 

 

skulpture Santuario_Lourdes

 

Skulpture proroka, by Lily Garafulić

 

 



[1] Bezić Filipović, Branka. 2014. Simbolično povezivanje kontinenata povodom sjećanja na Lily Garafulić. Matica br.6