National Museum of fine arts of Santiago, founded in 1880, is the oldest in South America art Museum. It was originally called "national Museum of painting". In 1887 the government purchased the building known as the Parthenon, which was built for the annual art exhibitions. The Museum has moved and changed its name to the Museum of fine arts.

In 1901, the government decided to create the original building for the Museum and school of fine arts. The building was constructed in forest Park, the landscaping of which spent Jorge Enrique Dubois trained in horticulture at the school of Versailles in France.

The current building of the Palace of fine arts was opened on the centenary of the independence of Chile in 1910. The project of the Museum building area of 6000 square meters, has developed a Chilean architect Emilio Jacques combined neoclassical style with Baroque and art Nouveau. At the end of the Palace is the Museum of contemporary art, University of Chile, which houses the old School of fine arts.

The internal layout and the facade is executed in the form of Small Royal Palace in Paris. The dome that crowns the Central hall, was designed and manufactured in Belgium. He was taken to Chile in 1907. The approximate weight of a dome - 115000 kg, including the weight of the glass dome was 2400 kg.

The Central hall has sculptures in marble and bronze, in addition to the collection of specimens of ancient sculpture. In the South wing on the first floor exhibits paintings from the collection of European painting. In the halls of the North wing is an exhibition of Chilean art.

The Museum preserves the artistic heritage consisting of more than 3,000 items acquired through purchase, donations and gifts. The Museum has the largest collection of sculptures and the second most important collection of paintings in Chile. The Museum's collections include art heritage of the country since colonial times: the paintings of Italian, Spanish and Flemish artists, collections of drawings and photographs, and the collection of African sculpture.

The Museum has a library specialized in the field of visual arts, here is some 100,000 volumes. The Museum hosts temporary exhibitions and organized educational program with workshops and courses.

The Museum building was declared a historic monument in 1976.