{"id":4091,"date":"2013-05-23T07:31:24","date_gmt":"2013-05-23T11:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/?p=4091"},"modified":"2017-07-05T23:58:18","modified_gmt":"2017-07-06T03:58:18","slug":"jesus-de-machaca-church-and-archaeological-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/2013\/05\/23\/jesus-de-machaca-church-and-archaeological-sites\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus de Machaca Church and Archaeological Sites"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"_MG_3012\"<\/a>The church in Jesus de Machaca looks quite different from other churches on the altiplano. \u00a0It also looks quite out of place for such a large and\u00a0sumptuously\u00a0decorated church to stand in such a small town in such an apparently poor region. \u00a0With its whitewashed\u00a0facade\u00a0and blocky look this church is an example of late\u00a0renascence\u00a0architecture. \u00a0German Ambassador Philipp Schauer has done a great job describing it in his book, Tour Guide of Iglesias Rurales: La Paz y Oruro<\/a>. \u00a0He also gives a great deal of information on the history of the church and the area. \u00a0Definitely worth reading during your visit.<\/p>\n

Keeping it very short, the answer to the mystery of this church is that it was financed by a rich local indigenous leader and his family, who the Spanish left in charge of the area and who was thus able to amass a large fortune. \u00a0The fortune can be seen in the quality and size of the construction, and in the interior, which is very nicely ornamented. \u00a0Also, unlike in many of the churches, this one seems pretty much intact. \u00a0When we were there, there was even\u00a0maintenance\u00a0underway inside.<\/p>\n

\"Note<\/a>

Note scaffolding on the right<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0Archaeological\u00a0Sites<\/h3>\n

The area around Jesus de Machaca is populated with numerous archaeological sites of importance, some of which date back to the period prior to the rise of the Tiwanaku civilization. \u00a0I have not had a chance to explore these sites, so I can’t say how much there is to see, but you might start your explorations by taking a look at the website of the Grand Machaca\u00a0Archaeological Project<\/a>. (The last time I checked, this website was down, but I’ll leave the link up in case it comes back up again. In the meantime, take a look at the archived version<\/a>.) \u00a0Among the sites listed are:<\/p>\n

Ruins of Huancane<\/strong> in the\u00a0Comunidad\u00a0Qhunqhu Liquiliqui (<\/b>Khonko Likiliki), just a bit north of 68\u00a0\u00b040′, 16\u00a0\u00b050′. \u00a0This location is shown on the 100k Instituto Geographico Militar map 3137: Puerto Guaqui, available online (see Maps in Bolivia<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Fortress of Qhunqhu (Pukara de Khonkho)<\/b>, directly north of the Ruins, in the proximity of Rosa Pata.<\/p>\n

Ch\u2019auch\u2019a de Kulla Marka (Chaucha de Kulamarka<\/b>)<\/b>, also close to Rosa Pata.<\/p>\n

Iruhuito<\/b>, near the Desaguadero River.<\/p>\n

For directions to Jesus de Machaca, see Tiwanaku, Colonial Churches and Natural Arches<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The church in Jesus de Machaca looks quite different from other churches on the altiplano. \u00a0It also looks quite out of place for such a large and\u00a0sumptuously\u00a0decorated church to stand in such a small town in such an apparently poor region. \u00a0With its whitewashed\u00a0facade\u00a0and blocky look this church is an example of late\u00a0renascence\u00a0architecture. \u00a0German Ambassador […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101,125,92,102,61,100,57,91,59],"tags":[190,187,104,172,189,168,170],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4091"}],"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=4091"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4973,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4091\/revisions\/4973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}