La Sebastiana (Pablo Neruda House Museum)
Pablo Neruda's tower-like house on Cerro Florida, kept as he left it, high above the bay.
La Sebastiana is one of three houses of the poet Pablo Neruda that are run as museums by the Fundación Pablo Neruda. Neruda bought the unfinished upper floors in 1961 with three friends, adapted them to his own taste and held a housewarming on 18 September that year. He used the house chiefly for the New Year, when he watched the fireworks over the harbour. After being looted following the 1973 coup, it was restored by the foundation and opened to visitors in 1991.
The narrow building rises over several levels on Cerro Florida, and the route takes visitors upwards through living room, dining room, bedroom and study to a small tower with views across the port and the amphitheatre of hills. Rooms remain furnished with the poet's collections of glassware, ships in bottles, maps, carousel horses and a bar, and an audio guide explains their meaning. A separate building alongside houses a cultural centre, bookshop and café.
Highlights
- Neruda's study and tower room looking out over Valparaíso bay
- Collections of coloured glass, maps, figureheads and a carousel horse
- Steep upward route through the house on several narrow floors
- Adjoining cultural centre, bookshop and café run by the foundation
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