It was a national treasure, with a golden pagoda-style roof the size of a football field supported by a forest of red pillars each more than three metres around.

ECONOMIST: Red elephant

The event will end with a new version of the National Anthem, featuring calypso-style drumming and Holland on piano.

BBC: Anthem to rock the millennium

In fact, Santiago seems like a smaller Buenos Aires, with a European style embodied in structures such as the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (National Museum of Fine Arts), housed within an elegant neoclassical building, and the Mercado Central (Central Market), with its filigreed steel framework imported from Britain.

FORBES: Lapostolle Residence, a Chilean Wine Country Hideaway