Capilla del Hospital San Juan de Dios de Chillán, Historical chapel at Hospital San Juan de Dios, Chillán, Chile.

The Capilla del Hospital San Juan de Dios de Chillán is a rectangular adobe building with one-metre-thick walls and a tiled roof, surrounded on three of its four sides by a porticoed corridor. Its interior has ten wooden columns forming twelve arches, and the walls around the altar contain an internal framework of vine shoots for reinforcement. Two niches hold carved wooden figures of San Juan and San Roque.

The hospital and chapel were ordered on 22 February 1791 by Ambrosio O'Higgins, intendant of Concepción, making it Chile's fourth hospital; it was named after Juan de Dios Bicur. Fray Rosauro Acuña saw the hospital completed and was held as a political prisoner after the Siege of Chillán until 1813. The 1835 Concepción earthquake destroyed the old structures; the hospital moved to the new city site and was permanently relocated in 1874 under the Brothers of Charity, who began the chapel that year and finished it in 1877. The 1939 earthquake destroyed only the hospital, and the chapel was declared a National Monument on 30 October 1972.

The chapel displays how colonial style was expressed in religious spaces, with a single nave and semicircular altar that follow traditional Spanish building practices. Visitors can observe how wooden columns and arches shape the prayer space according to 19th century religious architecture.

The chapel stands on the grounds of the former Hospital San Juan de Dios, whose site was earmarked for the new Hospital Regional de Ñuble; funds set aside for repairs were redirected to the COVID-19 response in Chile. The 2010 earthquake caused major damage, so check current access conditions before visiting.

The chapel walls are one metre thick and, around the altar, built of adobe reinforced inside with vine-shoot frames for greater strength. In one of the inner courtyards a bell still hangs, surrounded by wooden corridors on stone bases. Two niches hold carved wooden figures of Saint John and Saint Roch.