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Concepción is the capital of the Biobío Region in south-central Chile, about 500 kilometres south of Santiago, and the core of Greater Concepción, one of the three major urban areas of the country. The commune had 230,375 people in the 2024 census, and the city lies beside the Biobío River in the Valle de la Mocha.
Pedro de Valdivia founded Concepción in 1550 on the site of today's Penco, and it was the capital of the Kingdom of Chile from 1565 to 1573. Earthquakes and tsunamis destroyed it several times, and after the disaster of 1751 the city moved to its present site. Strong earthquakes struck again in 1835, 1939 and 2010.
Known as the university city, Concepción is home to the University of Concepción, founded in 1919, and to other major universities. Visitors come for its campus landmarks and the great mural of the Casa del Arte, the main square, Cerro Caracol and the banks of the Biobío.
Plaza de la Independencia is the main square of Concepción and the only main square in Chile with this name, given because Bernardo O'Higgins made the solemn declaration of Chilean independence here. It dates from 1752, when the city moved to its present site after an earthquake and tsunami.
Concepción Cathedral faces Plaza de la Independencia and replaced an older neoclassical cathedral demolished after the 1939 earthquake. Building began on 3 November 1940 and ended in 1950, and it was consecrated in 1964, with a carved wooden ceiling and a nave 27 metres high.
Historia de Concepción is a 280-square-metre fresco painted by Chilean artist Gregorio de la Fuente between 1943 and 1946 in the hall of the rebuilt Central Station. The hall now belongs to the Biobío Regional Government in the Barrio Cívico, and the mural was declared a Historic Monument in 2008.
The Llacolén Bridge crosses the Biobío River between Concepción and San Pedro de la Paz, running parallel to the Juan Pablo II Bridge and the railway bridge. Its name means calm in Mapudungun, it opened in 2000, and after the 2010 earthquake it was the only heavy road link to the south.
The Arco Universidad de Concepción, once called the Arco de Medicina, is the main entrance to the University City campus and a landmark of Concepción. Built between 1948 and 1954 to designs by Edmundo Buddemberg and Gabriela González de Groote, it now houses the Faculty of Biological Sciences.
Presencia de América Latina is a 300-square-metre mural painted in 1964 and 1965 by Mexican artist Jorge González Camarena in the entrance hall of the Casa del Arte on the university campus. Its theme is the unity of Latin American peoples, and it became a Historic Monument in 2009.
The Galería de la Historia de Concepción is a museum opened in 1983 in the middle of Parque Ecuador, at the foot of Cerro Caracol. It tells the story of Concepción and the Biobío Region through carved dioramas by the artist Zerreitug, and it also shows Mapuche crafts, instruments and clothing.
Teatro Biobío, the regional theatre of the Biobío, was opened on 7 March 2018 by President Michelle Bachelet. Designed by Chilean architects Smiljan Radic, Gabriela Medrano and Eduardo Castillo, it stands near the river beside Parque Bicentenario and has hosted the Rock en Conce festival since 2022.
Cerro Caracol is known as the green lung of Concepción, a hill of over 1,200 hectares of forest rising to 250 metres right beside the city centre. Open all year, it has trails and roads for walking and cycling and walled viewpoints along the way up, and it blends into Parque Ecuador at its foot.
Parque Ecuador runs for about 1.34 kilometres along the foot of Cerro Caracol, close to the city centre. Called Parque Alameda until 1911, it was renamed in thanks for the help sent by Ecuador after the earthquake of that year, and since 2015 it has been designed to be accessible to everyone.
Las Tres Pascualas Lagoon in the Barrio Norte is the largest lagoon in the commune of Concepción, covering 58,950 square metres with a depth of up to 8 metres. A park runs along its western shore, and it belongs to a chain of lagoons north of the Biobío that also includes Laguna Redonda.
The Biobío River is the second-longest river in Chile and reaches about 2 kilometres wide at its mouth near Concepción. Four bridges have crossed it in the metropolitan area since the railway bridge of 1889, and the lands along it became the second-largest industrial centre of Chile after Santiago.
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