World Heritage Identification Number: 529
World Heritage since: 1990
Category: Cultural Heritage
WHE Type: Religious Sites & Sacred Architecture
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇧🇴 Bolivia (Plurinational State of)
Continent: Americas
UNESCO World Region: Latin America and the Caribbean
Map
Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitos: A Unique Fusion of Cultures in Eastern Bolivia
The Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitos, located in the Santa Cruz department of eastern Bolivia, stand as a testament to the harmonious blend of European and Amerindian cultures that took place during the 17th and 18th centuries. This collection of six settlements, collectively designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990, offers a glimpse into the rich history and unique architectural styles that emerged from this remarkable fusion.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
Between 1696 and 1760, six ensembles of reducciones (settlements of Christianized Indians) inspired by the ‘ideal cities’ of the 16th-century philosophers were founded by the Jesuits in a style that married Catholic architecture with local traditions. The six that remain – San Francisco Javier, Concepción, Santa Ana, San Miguel, San Rafael and San José – make up a living heritage on the former territory of the Chiquitos.
UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site
Criterion (iv): The churches of the Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitos in Bolivia, large houses with a double-sloping roof and large porch roof overhanging a west gallery, are a remarkable example of the adaptation of Christian religious architecture to local conditions and traditions. Long walls defining three interior naves divided by wooden columns and two exterior galleries, also supported by columns, constitute – except in the case of San José where construction, in stone, was inspired by a baroque model – a very unique type of architecture marked by the special treatment of the wooden columns and banisters.
Criterion (v) : These traditional architectural ensembles, that often enclose remarkable popular art objects (e.g., at the church of Santa Ana), have become vulnerable under the impact of changes that threatened the Chiquitos populations following the agrarian reform of 1953.
Encyclopedia Record: Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos
The Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos are located in the Santa Cruz department in eastern Bolivia. Six of these former missions collectively were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990. Distinguished by a unique fusion of European and Amerindian cultural influences, the missions were founded as reductions or reducciones de indios by Jesuits in the 17th and 18th centuries to convert local tribes to Christianity.Additional Site Details
Area: Not available
Number of Components: 6
(v) — Outstanding example of traditional human settlement
Coordinates: -16 , -60.5
Image
© Daan at Dutch Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 Resized from original. (This derivative is under the same CC BY-SA license.)
