in CHIQUITOS

Forty years ago, we made a trip with a work colleague, to some of the most strange places in Argentina, travelling in a Renault 4. Now, as he was about to retire, we planned to make another unusual trip, as in that occasion. We both were interested in the zone of the Jesuit Missions, in the tropics of South America. To reach the zone of Chiquitos (that is the historic and political name of the East of Bolivia), it is convenient to start from the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. This city has a huge commercial movement in constant expansion. We hired a Toyota 4×4 that came with the driver included, who was very kind with us and chewed his coca during all the days of our trip. From Santa Cruz de la Sierra we went to the villages of the Misiones of San Javier, Concepción, San Ignacio, San Miguel, San Rafael, Santa Ana, San José (in that order) and then back to Santa Cruz de la Sierra, previously visiting Chochís. All the villages have their attractions, but the most interesting places are Concepción, Santa Ana and San José.

The Jesuits arrived from Perú to the plains of the East of Bolivia around 1700 and created a series of religious colonization settlements that were economically self-sustaining and that connected Santa Cruz de la Sierra with the Paraguay River, from where it is possible to reach the city of Asunción, working also, as a defense against the advance to the west by the Portuguese colonists of Brazil.
Each of these missions were managed by a few Jesuits (sometimes no more than two or three) and had a native population of 3000 to 5000 persons in each one of them. The layout of each Mission in the terrain follows a similar pattern. It was formed by a large central space, like a square, the church on one of the sides of the square and the workshops with the warehouses and dwelling that occupied the other three sides of the group plane. A network of roads linked all the Missions to each other.

Most of the Jesuit priests that were established in Chiquitos arount 1700, were of Central European origin, (Baviera, Silesia, Suiza, Bohemia, etc.) That would be the reason of their enormous interest for music and that it was so important for them that the natives learn to manufacture string instruments to interpret the baroque music that the priests new best. The natives showed great skills with the knowledges that the religious gave them, becoming excellent craftsmen, farmers, musicians and constructors.
The Jesuits were expelled from America by the King of Spain in 1767 and the Jesuits villages entered into an abandonment period. Once Bolivia was established as a nation, that Missions formed a nucleus of settlements without greater relevance until about thirty years ago, when the relics that were made 250 years before begun to be restored.

CONCEPCIÓN

It is the biggest village of the Missions, where the church is part of a monumental ecclesiastical ensemble, that contains several religious buildings. These constructions were restored during seven years from the year 1975, under the direction of the ecclesiastic swiss architect Hans Roth. All the workforce and elements for the restoration of the buildings were from Concepción. The extraordinary work done here was an example for the rest of the Mission villages, who started to focus on the restoration of their deteriorated churches. The village also has a uniform architecture, with long constructions in a unique plant, with tile roofs and galleries on the fronts to protect them from the heat and the rains. All this around a square with lush vegetation.

The images in black and white show the state of the constructions before the restoration.

SANTA ANA

Is the most beautiful and still keeps the spirit of the antique Jesuit Missions. The difference between Santa Ana and other Mission villages of Chiquitania nowadays, is that in Santa Ana it is practically possible to still “read” the urban space plan, imposed by the Jesuits. This is, because the church is not separate from the square by a paved street, as clumsily interposed “the progress” in other villages, what gives the place a very particular character; with its great square surface covered by a very green grass and ancient trees with flowers of different colors. There is an absence of traffic, both human and vehicular. The church has perfect proportions, with its wooden belfry separate from its principal body. The great slope of the huge tile roof ensures good drainage of the water of the subtropical rain. The church organ continues to work perfectly well and there are very well restored images and furniture inside.

SAN JOSÉ

The village is located in the middle of the route between Santa Cruz de la Sierra and the frontier of Bolivia with Brazil. Through this line runs the train that reaches the port of Santos on the Atlantic and there is also a highway recently paved. This village cannot be described as an attractive place. The constructions do not keep a formal unit and is quite dusty. But its ecclesiastic ensemble on the square is really fantastic. Here, with good sense, the level of the floor of the church is unified with that of the Square, giving more harmony to the group. The distinctive feature of this church is that it is the only church of the Missions of Bolivia that has its front made of stone, unlike the others that are made of adobe and wood. This front is not symmetric but it keeps a balanced proportion between the elements of its facade.

Below there is a drawing of the place, from 1845.

CHOCHÍS

I have seen images of a rock mysteriously emerging in the middle of the vegetation that surrounded it, that was called La Muela del Diablo (The Devil´s Tooth). The village next to the rock had been devastated by a sudden overflow from a nearby river, in 1979. In gratitude on the part of the saved in that phenomenon, is that they entrusted to Hans Roth (the architect-priest that reconstructed the ensemble in Concepción), the design of a sanctuary at the foot of the rock. This is a “small-great architectural work”, with an admirable management of space and implantation in the terrain, with the use of materials, colors and textures, expressive of the place. It allows the access to several chapels and to a Via Crucis perfectly integrated to the geography of the zone at the base of the rock. The rock itself is imposing and can easily be climbed to where the vegetation ceases. From there you have fantastic views over the plains and the low mountainous of the Bolivian Chaco.