Alhué in mapudungun means “spirit of dead”, “soul” or “ghost”. Alhue inhabitants define the village as “place of spirits,” which throughout its history has been preserved thanks to many myths and legends, weaved among hills, about apparitions and supernatural events. And that is Alhué: religiosity, myths, traditions and folklore.

History tells that soon after the arrival of Spanish conquerors the system of encomiendas, consisting of a distribution of Indians (a group of native population organized through caciques or kurakas), as a way of rewarding both military and financial services provided to the Conquest was established. Each encomendero (the grantee of an encomienda) earned tributes from the natives assigned and, in turn, he should evangelize, feed and dress them. Given the then social and economic conditions of Chile, the encomienda by tribute was very difficult, and the was implemented the encomienda by service, comprising labor, particularly in the gold panning sites, but Chilean gold activity was soon over, and services provided by Indians led to agricultural and livestock activities, transcendental in the creation of rural areas.

Alhué would not stay away from this history. Pedro de Valdivia gave Inés de Suárez, through an encomienda grant of caciques and Indians, Atungüillariga, Catapilco, Ulbalalhue (Alhué), Guachunarongo (Huechún), Curipanobal (Culiprán) and Melipilla. Later, on July 11, 1546, Valdivia conferred the ownership of those lands to Inés de Suárez. Inés de Suárez commissioned the Mercedarian order the task of evangelizing the Indians of these lands, who will live in an estate they baptized as Santa Inés.

Due to the leaking of her relationship with Valdivia, in 1548 Valdivia ordered her to marry Rodrigo de Quiroga. This led to the unification of encomiendas of both spouses. Suárez had Alhué, Melipilla, Huechún, Apoquindo, Culiprán and Catapilco; Quiroga, on the other side, had Peumo, Colchagua, Teno and Relamo. Soon they introduced livestock that would multiply by hundreds in Melipilla, Puangue and Alhué. Everything necessary for living was produced in the farms and estates. By slaughtering animals there was not only meat for eating, but also leather, soles, dried beef, grease, suet for candles and implements were produced. Subsequently, agriculture and winemaking will become economic activities too.

In 1599, Governor Pedro de Vizcarra granted Captain Fernando Álvarez de Bahamonde the lands on the Peumo side that were adjacent to those of the cacique Alhué. In 1635, this would give rise to a lawsuit over several years between the Mercedarian Order and the captain’s widow, Beatriz de Guzmán, for the Alhué lands. She argued that in a barter the cacique Alhué had given her his lands. Despite Mercedarians objected such a theory, alluding that many years before they already inhabited those lands that were donated by Inés de Suárez and Rodrigo de Quiroga, in 1639 Beatriz de Guzmán was recognized as the lawful owner of Alhué lands. She donated to her son Jerónimo de Bahamonde, who would call this estate as San Jerónimo (Saint Jerome).

Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna estimated that by 1739 the first gold-bearing vein was discovered in the area. Many families arrived in pursuit of these wealth and they began to settle and founded El Asiento, the first miner village of the area. Other mining settlements would be installed in the area that would be called “Nuevo Reino” (New kingdom), because people thought the name Alhué was causing all the horrors committed there (gold fever entailed many crimes and stealing, facts that were attributed to the Devil’s intervention). These families, from El Asiento and Nuevo Reino, asked Governor Domingo Ortiz de Rosas to found Villa Alhué (Alhué village). Governor would grant a license on January 26, 1753 to found the town baptized as Villa San Jerónimo de la Sierra de Alhué for several reasons, being the first that the estate had been called San Jerónimo (Saint Jerome), and the second that San Jerónimo would become the town’s patron saint.

As all cities founded by the Spanish, Alhué was erected around a square. A place for the new church was set aside. The church was moved from El Asiento to its new location. The first building was made of adobe, wood and thatched roof.

It was founded as a parish on September 30, 1764 by Bishop Manuel de Alday, and the new and definitive temple was built. The current structure is built on quarried stone foundations with adobe walls, wooden roof and clay tiles.

Recent earthquakes in 1985 and 2010 caused serious damages on its structure. Nevertheless, different restoration projects have been completed, thereby rescuing its colonial essence.

Along with the Parish House, it was declared Historical Monument in 1974. It is an important landmark of the city, both for its heritage, symbolic and historical value.

Alhué is a town that maintains its cultural traditions through popular and religious celebrations, such as the trapiche (sugar cane mill) and lantern festival, Burning of Judas, feast of Quasimodo, Holy Week (Easter) and Christmas processions, Saint Jerome patronal feast, and the most important festivity of all: the Fiesta de la Purísima (a feast in honor of the Holy Virgin Mary). Alhué is also known for its singers, whose art addresses the human and divine aspects of life.

The “Alhué Week” is celebrated since 1975. It includes comedy shows, musical bands, dances, typical Chilean food and Chilean style races. The alhuino, with deep-rooted traditions, participates in rodeos, breaking-in of horses and Chilean style races on several dates throughout the year.

Alhué’s bell

The bell, that classical card from the house in Isla Negra where Pablo Neruda lived, comes from the Alhué parish. It seems that only the bell knows how it ended up from Alhué to Isla Negra. Alhué people at some point anxiously waited for the bell to be returned, but they did not count on the powerful fondness the poet had for such object.

According to some letters published in the newspaper El Labrador de Melipilla, «unfortunately, this bell will not chime again in Alhué or anywhere: I bought it with a mortal crack, a fracture that will keep it always silent. No restoration could give it sound back.” Neruda died the following year, and the inquiry of how the poet got the bell, as well as the reason behind that fondness also died. However, over time, alhuinos understood that the bell being there was far more prestigious that the bell would stay in Isla Negra than being in the very same Alhué.

Nevertheless, one of the most important missions bestowed on the Board of Directors of the Museum of Alhué was recovering the famous bell. They were in discussions with the Pablo Neruda Foundation, whose chairman prevented that longing from being a reality, but he committed himself to make an exact replica which was given in a special ceremony that took place in September 13, 2009.