The Comuna de Palmilla is located between the Tinguiririca Riverbed and the chain of low hills, which separates the valleys from the coastal mountain chains. The Tinguiririca River extends across a broad and topographically even plain.

View of Tinguiririca river and old bridge

The village of San José del Carmen de El Huique is located at the center of the commune territory on the eastside of the Tinguiririca River. The Huicano canal cuts through it’s center, and the Crucero canal does so on the northern boundary.

During the XIX Century agriculture was the basis of Chilean economy and the "hacienda" was the center of that era’s social structure.

The architectural complex of houses formed the nucleus of the Ex – Hacienda San José del Carmen de El Huique. The tenants’ houses, dairy barns, school, workshops, storage quarters and cinema were built around the "patronal" house. This self-sufficient establishment housed hundreds of people forming an agricultural and dairy production center.

The property finds its origin in the Hacienda Larmagüe lands, which in the XVIII covered 30.000 ha. This farm was the property of Mrs. María Paula Mercedes de Lecaros y Lecaros, married to Mr. Pedro Gregorio de Echenique.


Stone used to gind grain


religious figure

Larmagüe was divided for the first time in 1789 among Mr. Pedro Echenique’s sons. El Huique went to Mr. Miguel de Echenique and Lecaros, and Almagüe went to his brother Antonio. Later in 1828 Mr. Miguel divided the property among his three sons. Mr. Juan José Echenique y Bascuñan started the building of the actual "patronal" house in 1829.

The chapel was finished in 1852, years later the porch and bell tower of 23 Mts high. were built and with written authorization of the Vatican, this document can be seen at the museum, entered into operation this same year.
Mrs. Gertrudis Echenique y Mujica, the only daughter of Mr. Juan José Echenique inherited all of her father’s possessions. She married Mr. Federico Errazuriz Echauren, an outstanding public figure who became president of Chile between 1896 and 1901. His daughter Mrs. Elena Errazuriz Echenique inherited the property in 1928 after her mother’s death. Mrs. Elena married the diplomat, Mr. Renato Sánchez de Loria y García de la Huerta, with whom she had four children: Gabriela, Renato, Federico and Teresa Sánchez de Loria Errázuriz.

three pieces set, teapot and sugar bowl with tray

Through the history the "hacienda" developed it’s own identity. One example of this is the "bonete huicano", a pointed hat with a wide brim, made of sheep’s wool, embroidered by hand with landscapes and colored flower figures. The hat with the initials of Mr. Juan José and photographs from the beginning of the XX century bear witnesses to this type of hat.

tipical hacienda's San José del Carmen de El Huique hat, bonete huicano


Mrs. Elena's Errázuriz Echenique bedroom

Upon her death in 1966 Mrs. Elena in her will requests her children to preserve El Huique and it’s traditions. It’s last owners, the Sanchéz de Loria Errázuriz family, respectful of their mother’s wishes and unable to preserve the hacienda in it’s totality after it’s division as a consequence of the agricultural reform in 1967, decided to donate the property inherited to the Chilean Army in 1975.

President's Federico Errázuriz Echaurren
inkpot

The main house of the old hacienda, now a museum, has a structure based on galleries and successive yards and is built with a floor of solid bricks, clay tiles on the roofs, wood and adobe. It is completely embellished with furniture of the XIX and the beginning of the XX Century.

 

Various earthquakes have affected the central area along the years and the 1986 floods, caused by Tinguiririca River, have damaged the old "patronal" house considerably, especially because of the fact that adobe is highly sensitive to humidity.

President's Federico Errázuriz
Echaurren bedroom

The conservation and restoration process of the museum has mainly been directed towards recuperating the "patronal" house where it’s architecture is concerned, the rooms, yards and gardens, and the conservation of it’s contents and collections bearing in mind a minimum of intervention.


Chain pump at kitchen court