Corporacion Museo de Arqueologia e Historia Francisco Fonck

The Society that houses the Fonck Museum was founded on November 25, 1937, by Dr José Luis Santelices Lantaño, Luis Thayer Ojeda, Ramón Marambio Montt and Javier Guerrero Garzena. They agreed to give the name of the late German doctor and philanthropist, Dr. Francisco Fonck, to the Archaeological Society they founded at the time, in recognition of their studies in archeology. In April 1938, the Viña del Mar Sugar Refinery Company gave him a free premises in the Rotonda Building opposite the Municipal Casino. In July 1938, Dr. Roberto Gajardo Tobar joined the Society, who will be a great promoter and benefactor of the museum. Since then, the Museum has moved four times to other units. In 1986 the Municipality transferred the property that until now it occupies, at calle 4 Norte 784, next to the Palacio Carrasco.
In 1951 the Chilean Navy brought from Easter Island a moai, currently on its front, donated to the Society by the Islanders of that time and which is testimony to the close relationship of friendship that existed between the inhabitants of Easter Island and the Society. Amongst the museum's collections, Don Federico Felbermayer of the Rapa Nui culture stands out.
In 1964, the Society of Archeology inaugurated in Viña del Mar the third Inter-American Congress of Archeology Chile. In 1995, he sent pieces of the RAPA NUI culture to an International Exposition held in the city of Milan, Italy, inaugurated by President Eduardo Frei Ruiz Tagle and then to Barcelona and Bordeaux.
Between 1989 and 2017 the Museum has modernized its permanent exhibition and its warehouses thanks to competitive projects: Fondart, Fundación Andes