Santiago, the capital and largest city of Chile, is located in a valley surrounded by the snow-capped peaks of the Andes and the Chilean Coastal Range. The Plaza de Armas, the great nucleus of the old colonial center of the city, has 2 neoclassical monuments: the Palacio de la Real Audiencia from 1808, where the National Historical Museum is located, and the Metropolitan Cathedral from the 18th century. La Chascona is the house transformed into a museum of the poet Pablo Neruda.