The Magallanes Regional Museum, in the historic center of Punta Arenas, occupies a neoclassical mansion built between 1903 and 1906 by French architect Antoine Beaulier. It originally belonged to the local Braun-Menéndez family whose fortune was built on gold mining and sheep farming.
The house - referred to locally as El Palacio (The Palace) - was donated to the state in 1984 along with some of its period furniture. As a result, eight of the Museum’s rooms are much as they were when inhabited by the family.
They reflect not only conveniences that were surprisingly modern for the time, particularly in the kitchen and bathroom, but also the family’s cosmopolitan tastes. Much of the furniture, wallpaper and fabrics was imported from France but there are also items from as far afield as India.
