{"id":2755,"date":"2012-09-09T23:21:10","date_gmt":"2012-09-09T17:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/?p=2755"},"modified":"2016-02-16T10:27:44","modified_gmt":"2016-02-16T14:27:44","slug":"preserving-colonial-churches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/2012\/09\/09\/preserving-colonial-churches\/","title":{"rendered":"Preserving Colonial Churches"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Huchusuma Chapel, after repair<\/p><\/div>\n

A week ago Friday, Tatyana and I were privileged to be part of a new project the Embassy is financing.\u00a0 Under the Ambassador\u2019s Fund for Cultural Preservation, the Embassy will help to restore five colonial-era chapels in the Curahuara de Carangas region of Oruro Department.\u00a0 Two years ago the embassy financed the restoration of six churches in the same area.<\/p>\n

Tatyana and I visited three colonial chapels, the Curahuara de Carangas Chapel<\/a>, sometimes called the Sistine Chapel of the Altiplano, the Huchusuma Chapel<\/a>, which the Embassy helped to preserve in 2010 and the Qilcata Chapel<\/a>, which we will help preserve this year.<\/p>\n

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Kellkata Chapel, not yet restored<\/p><\/div>\n

There are dozens of beautiful colonial-era churches on the Altiplano.\u00a0 In his excellent guide to the rural churches of La Paz and Oruro Departments (Gu\u00eda tur\u00edstica de \/ Tour guide of Iglesias Rurales<\/a>), Philipp Schauer, the German Ambassador to Bolivia, identifies and describes 25 churches.\u00a0 Only two of the eleven churches we are preserving are listed, so that takes the total up to 34.\u00a0 There are, no doubt, still more.<\/p>\n

As Ambassador Schauer\u2019s book illustrates very well, the colonial churches provide an interesting starting point for explorations of the altiplano.\u00a0 Besides describing the churches themselves, Ambassador Schauer provides maps and directions for reaching them and interesting information on other things to see and do in the area.\u00a0 In fact, our recent trip to Comanche to see the Puya Raimondii, was also inspired by his book.<\/p>\n

The Preservation Projects<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2001 the U.S. Congress established the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation.\u00a0 Under this program, U.S. Embassies around the world submit proposals to the Department of State for projects to preserve cultural heritage worldwide.\u00a0 Projects compete for funding with other proposals from around the world.\u00a0 The U.S. Embassy in La Paz, Bolivia has won funding for projects restoring 45 paintings from the 17th and 18th century recovered from remote churches and convents in Oruro, establishing a national digital archive of photography for Bolivia, and preserving two exceptional rock art sites at Betanzos featuring polychrome designs and a sequence of different traditions spanning thousands of years, among others.<\/p>\n

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Inside Kellkata Chapel<\/p><\/div>\n

In 2010, the U.S. Embassy won funding for the preservation of six colonial chapels in Oruro Department; the chapels of Huchusuma, Sajama, Lagunas, Rosapata, Tomarapi, and Lerko.\u00a0 All the chapels were built by the native people of the region during colonial times and remain important religious and community centers even today.\u00a0 Unfortunately, though, these beautiful and important expressions of faith and culture had fallen into disrepair.\u00a0 For 2012, we have won funding for preservation of another five chapels, those of Qilcata, Cotasaya, Quilviri, Santa Barbara, and Ojasani.<\/p>\n

Now, with funding from the Ambassadors Fund, the advice and technical skills of Bolivian architects, and the hard work of the local people who will carry out most of the construction, these chapels are being preserved.\u00a0 The local people have committed themselves to maintain the chapels after the are preserved.\u00a0 In some cases, further efforts to fully restore the chapels might make sense later.<\/p>\n

Update: \u00a0In 2013, the Department of State published a book on the projects of the Ambassador’s fund. \u00a0Eighteen projects from around the world were showcased. \u00a0Our project preserving the chapels of the altiplano was among them. \u00a0You can download a digital (pdf) version of the book here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Our Visit to Two Chapels<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Tatyana and I traveled to Curahuara de Carangas on August 31 to visit some of the churches and present the funding for the new project to Father Gabriel Antequera, who is the parish priest responsible for all these chapels and a key partner in their preservation.<\/p>\n

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Discussing the Repairs<\/p><\/div>\n

First, we visited the Huchusuma Chapel which was preserved in 2010.\u00a0 This beautiful chapel sits alone off to the left of Highway 4, the road to Arica, some 15 miles before Curahuara de Carangas (on the road from La Paz).\u00a0 It\u2019s a beautiful white chapel with Nevado Sajama behind it in the distance.<\/p>\n

From Huchusuma, we continued on 20 miles, beyond the turnoff to Curahuara, to Qilcata Chapel, which is also off to the left of the road.\u00a0 Qilcata needs a great deal of work to get it into the same shape as Huchusuma, but it is already a very beautiful building.<\/p>\n

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With the village kids<\/p><\/div>\n

The local people were very welcoming, as they are everywhere we go.\u00a0 The Chapels are clearly very important to them, and they turned out in large numbers to meet us and thank us for the support.\u00a0 They invited us very warmly and insistently to return for the ceremony which will launch the construction, a wilancha which involves sacrificing a llama and anointing the four corners of the building with its blood to bless the building and the work<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Sistine Chapel of the Altiplano: Curahuara de Carangas<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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The murals are gorgeous, and their variety is astounding.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Curahuara de Carangas Chapel was completed in 1608 and the internal walls and ceiling were painted at that time with murals (other murals were added later).\u00a0 These murals were the first painted in Bolivia and account for the nickname of the church.\u00a0 The murals mix traditional indigenous themes with Catholic motifs.\u00a0 The rockwork of the walkway to the main entrance of the church also combines indigenous and Catholic symbolism.\u00a0 The church is dedicated to Santiago (St. James) who has been connected in the decorative murals to Illapa, the Aymara God of thunder, lightning, wind, rain, hail and snow.\u00a0 For a much more extensive history of the church and explanation of some of the decorative themes, see Ambassador Schauer\u2019s book.<\/p>\n

The Santa Barbara Chapel, which we will also be restoring, is also in Curahuara de Carangas.<\/p>\n

Getting There<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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To Curahuara (click to enlarge)<\/p><\/div>\n

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Three Chapels (click to enlarge)<\/p><\/div>\n

This is an easy one.\u00a0 The La Paz \u2013 Tambo Quemado (Arica, Chile) road is one of the most important in the country.\u00a0 As such, it is well paved and signed.\u00a0 At Patacamaya, some 40 miles beyond the toll booth on Rt. 1 south to Oruro, take the well-marked right toward Tambo Quemado and Arica, beyond.\u00a0 About 48 miles down that road, you will see the Huchusuma Chapel on the left.\u00a0 Kellkata Chapel is another 20 miles down the road. \u00a0This .gdb file<\/a>\u00a0provides the GPS coordinates and track to all three chapels. \u00a0For information on using .gdb files, see Using a GPS in Kyrgyzstan (or anywhere)<\/a>\u00a0and Using Google Earth and \u201c.gdb\u201d Files<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For more photos check out Larry Memmott Photography<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A week ago Friday, Tatyana and I were privileged to be part of a new project the Embassy is financing.\u00a0 Under the Ambassador\u2019s Fund for Cultural Preservation, the Embassy will help to restore five colonial-era chapels in the Curahuara de Carangas region of Oruro Department.\u00a0 Two years ago the embassy financed the restoration of six […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101,92,61,58,57,59],"tags":[190,184,187,191,172,23,168,14],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2755"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2755"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4910,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2755\/revisions\/4910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}