Today for art class we went to an incredible, splendid mansion called the Palacio Cousino. It was the home of the richest family in Chile, built in 1850 and inhabited by 3 generations. It was absolutely stunning. I don't think I had ever been in a house that grandiouse (in a different way than Casa Brady in Cuernavaca). Every single part of the house was so finely and exquisitely detailed. Most everything was original, but the 2nd floor was ruined in fire. My favorite room was the winter solarium, a huge room with panoramic windows and windowed cieling, pretty tiles, that looked over the garden - that can be my bedroom, please. The house took my breath away though, imagining the sheer wealth that that family had. Supposedly they owned the coal mines, silver mines, vineyards, etc, and the husband died in his 30's so the wife was left to take care of the businesses and live in the huge house with her 6 children and grand children. The staircase had 10 different kinds of marble imported from Europe, and the grand chandelier had over 6,000 individual christals. The house was super European, and even had the first elevator in Chile and in Latin America (really funny, it was like a velvet throne). They also had several important Chilean paintings which we had just learned about in art class. One of the cute descendants of the family was hanging out in the parlor, and my teacher knew him, so I asked if he was single "si, pero es gay!" (dang, it was worth a try)
So far art class has been my favorite, it's fascinating, and since there are only 3 people in the class every day is like a private lesson. And best of all, we get to go to a different museum every week and our teacher comes and explains everything to us.
(These are some pictures I stole off the facebook page)
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