The Museo Nacional de Belles Artes is "Temporarily" Closed. Again.

The butt's eye view of a Botero horse outside the Museum of Contemporary Art.

One of the museums I so wanted to visit on my first trip to Santiago was the Museo Nacional de Belles Artes. Unfortunately, it was closed due a museum workers' strike. Yes, it was a strike of just the workers at Chile's public museums. (I don't think it was limited to the public museums of Santiago although I would guess that Santiago has a lot of the country's public museums.) This time the museum was closed again. "Temporarily." Which I think means: we heard Spretnak was coming to town.

I believe this is the Plaza Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna. So let's put a flower in our hair. We're going to San Francisco.

The Iglesia de San Francisco, to be precise.

I believe that there is a Church of St. Francis in just about every city across the globe with any sort of Catholic population. And in the Spanish-speaking world, a Church of St, Francis is an Iglesia de San Francisco.

First, let's say "hello" to a new old friend:

San Expedito. The patron saint of urgent causes. Literally. And the patron saint to whom we pray for intercession for success in lawsuits. San Expedito was a Roman centurion in Armenia (then a much larger swath of land going from present day Armenia, through the eastern third of Turkey, into the Levant of northern Lebanon and Syria). He converted to Christianity and was promptly martyred. killed by Roman officials who did not much care for the upstart religion.

This is the altar of the Iglesia de San Francisco:

I knew I was not going to be able to go into the Museo Nacional de Belles Artes as it, once again, was "temporarily" closed. But I thought I could at least snap a few photos of its beautiful exterior.

First, was the MAC Museo de Arte Contemporáneo side of the museum.

It does have a Botero horse outside.

Botero is the famous Colombian artist renowned for depicting the subjects of his sculptures, paintings and drawings as being extremely rotund. Botero himself, ironically, was of normal weight.

The Museum of Contemporary Art was open, but I did not go in due to my prejudice against "contemporary" art. This is not the time for a rant on my belief that "modern" art, or its evil twin, "post-modern" art, is nothing but ugly handicrafts done by talent-free brats who have labelled themselves "artist." I'll save that rant for a later time.

Across from the closed entrance -- which is an oxymoron I believe -- of the Museo Nacional de Belles Artes was this sculpture in Parque Forestal: Monumento a la Gloria.

And, as seen from the Monumento a la Gloria, here is the unopened Museo Nacional de Belles Artes:

Here it is again. By itself.

And in the Parque Forestal:

This is the Castillo Forestal. It's not a Castle. It's a restaurant. Given its location, in the beautiful Parque Forestal across from the National Museum of Fine Arts, I would guess it's at least a little upscale.

We will end the day's tour with this sculpture outside the shuttered (to me) Museo Nacional de Belles Artes:

It reads, on the base, "Unidos En La Gloria Y En La Muerte." United in Glory and in Death. Hear that, Museo Nacional de Belles Artes. You've been closed twice now for me. You're dead to me. No glory. Just death.