Sanctuary on San Cristóbal Hill, Catholic shrine at San Cristóbal Hill in Santiago, Chile.

The Sanctuary of the Immaculate Conception on San Cristóbal Hill is crowned by a 14-metre white cast-iron statue of the Virgin Mary on an 8.3-metre cylindrical pedestal. The pedestal holds a small chapel designed by Eugenio Joannon, entered through a dark arched opening. A curved stone terrace with white railings and an amphitheatre for Masses sits below, reached by staircases that wind around the base.

The hill was known to indigenous peoples as Tupahue, meaning Place of God in the Mapuche language, long before Spanish colonizers arrived. The sanctuary was established in the 1900s to house the statue and became a destination for religious devotion.

The shrine serves as a gathering place for Catholic Mass, pilgrimages, and religious ceremonies that draw thousands of believers throughout the year. People come here to pray together and participate in important church celebrations marking the calendar.

Visitors can walk up the hill, take the funicular railway, or ride the cable car, offering options depending on fitness and time available. The park is open during daylight hours and pathways are well-marked with rest areas along the way.

The chapel sits inside the 8.3-metre pedestal, not the 14-metre statue itself; the statue weighs 36,610 kilograms. John Paul II prayed in that pedestal chapel on 1 April 1987 and blessed Santiago from it. The statue was cast in cast iron by the Val d'Osne foundry in Paris and lit at night by lights on its sides.