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Barrio Lastarria is a historical neighborhood in the center of Santiago, Chile. Following the Conquest of Chile by Pedro de Valdivia, this area was left under the control of Bartolomé Blumenthal, a German migrant to Chile, who built a mill on the site. As with many neighborhoods in Santiago’s center, Barrio Lastarria was built around a church: in this case, the Iglesia de la Veracruz. Houses were built between the winding streets, notably the house at Plaza Mulato Gil de Castro, built in the beginning of the 19th century.
During the 1990s, the neighborhood began a process of restoration to maintain its bohemian and intellectual flavor, with a number of cafés, bars and cultural centers appearing towards the end of the decade and the restoration of facades of the Iglesia de la Veracruz in 2001 and 2002. Since then, as a historic area in Santiago, it has been able to maintain its traditional character despite new development. Barrio Lastarria was declared an official Zona Típica by Chile in 1997.
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