The small town of Copiapo is famous for the first railway in South America, the first telegraph and telephone lines in Chile, the first gas plants in the country, and much more. In addition to significant industrial facilities, there are many colonial buildings, national monuments. You can walk the streets of the city endlessly. But do not forget to visit one of its main treasures!

The Atacama Regional Museum was created in 1973. Then it was located in the former house of Quartermaster. A year later, the building was demolished and the museum moved to State Technical University (Atacama University). In the same year, its founders turned to the government of Copiapo with a request to include its collections in the list of libraries, archives, and museums of the region. The request was granted. So the extensive collections were placed in one of the halls of the University.

In 1978, the Museum moved again. This time it began to be located in one of the exhibition halls of Villa El Sol. However, its collections were too large for such a small space. So the administration continued to search for a perfect place. Soon the valuable exhibits have found their permanent home, a large historical building known as the Casa de los hermanos Matta. It took 4 years to restore it. And only in 1982, the new museum presented its first permanent exhibition to the world.

Despite the popularity of its collections, its halls are regularly updated up to modern standards. So the building has been undergoing a grandiose process of modernization since 1997. As a result, there is not only a redesign of the halls and replenishment of the collections with new exhibits but also the introduction of a modern interactive space. Today, the highlight of the museum is the historical magazine, which has been published since 2010.