It is hard to surprise even a beginning traveler with tours to the oldest universities in Europe. novice traveler for a long time. Oxford, Cambridge and the Sorbonne sound as familiar as Russian universities named after Lomonosov or Plekhanov. At the same time, only a few people know the oldest universities in other continents. And you will not hear an answer at all, if you narrow this circle to one small country in South America. Despite such superficial knowledge of the European population about the education system in these countries, it is here that there are excellent examples of universities with a long history and modern culture.

Such an excellent educational space is the university in the Chilean city of Talca. But even if you have not been a student for a long time, and all the knowledge you have gained is more than enough, it is worth to come to this campus.

On the one hand, it is a traditional state university, though the best one outside Santiago. Its history started with the merger of two universities in 1981. Later, the educational institution enlarged. Now, it includes five campuses located in different cities. These are the prestigious Santiago campus, the young Linares campus founded recently, and the very first campus in the city of Talca.

On the other hand, the university does not just consist of classrooms and libraries. Here is part of the National Museum of Sculpture, a sculpture park, and a huge botanical garden of 6.5 hectares. The sculptures appeared in the university area owing to the famous Chilean artist Lily Garafulic, who donated her works of art to it. The Talca campus has an exhibition hall, dedicated to her work. It includes a permanent exhibition of 65 sculptures and some documentary materials about this great artist.