Capilla del Parque Viña Santa Rita – Architecture

Santa Rita Winery’s church was built in 1881 by the German architect Theodore Burchard, who applied every ounce of eclecticism and freedom of styles in his project. The outside stands out for a central brick volume, projecting upwards with a tall and slim Gothic wooden tower, manufactured by carpenter Otto Golgert. The inside depicts semicircular arches and Romanic vaulted domes, everything profusely decorated.

Lateral walls display a central motif crowned with three circular decorations: the central one representing the Holy Spirit and the lateral ones used as windows with vitreaux brought all the way from Munich, Germany. The central motif portrays six saints, painted by an artist from Valparaíso, Alfredo Valenzuela.

In 1885, church construction works were completed, and the church opened its doors to the neighborhood, becoming the spiritual center of Santa Rita. Every Sunday there was a mass for family members, workers and neighbors of the winery. Nowadays, weddings, ceremonies and classical music concerts are held there.

Earthquakes that shook the country in 1985 and 2010 damaged the structure and decorations of the chapel, which were already repaired through a common effort by calculation engineer Santiago Arias and conservators María Eugenia van de Maele, Marcela Castro and Isabel Rubilar.