Egaña’s thinking and the monument that was erected to celebrate September 18, 1819

Abstract

In 1819 the city of Santiago built a monument to celebrate the first anniversary of Chilean Independence. The structure occupied the entire main square and had eight sculptures as well as imposing gateways, columns, balustrades and triumphal arcs. The complexity of the iconographic program suggests a relationship between the different symbols used and a specific political purpose. The discourse contained in the monument was in tune with Egaña's moralistic thought which conceived the individual exercise of virtue as the basis for social life. The present paper offers a comparison between Egaña's political ideology and the visual discourse of the monument built by the city in 1819.