- The address of the museum and temple of the mission in San Jose de Chiquitos: Plaza Principal, San Jose de Chiuitos
- Working hours of the museum: daily, except Mon, 9-00 - 17-00
The mission of the Jesuits to Chiquitos is a cultural and historical monument in Bolivia , in the Department of Santa Cruz , a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It consists of 6 mission centers founded by the monks of the Order of Jesus with the aim of spreading Catholicism among the Indian population of South America. Members of the Order of Jesus conducted their activities among the Indians of the Chiquito and Moss. Mission San Javier was founded the very first, in 1691. The mission of San Rafael was created in 1696, San Jose de Chiquitos in 1698, Concepcion in 1699 (in this case, the missionaries converted the Guarani Indians), San Miguel in 1721, Santa Anna in 1755.
To this day, the missions of San Juan Batista (1699), San Ignacio and San Ignacio de Velasco (both dating back to 1748), Santiago de Chiquitos (1754) and Santa Corazon (1760) . In total, 22 settlements were established, in which about 60,000 Indians converted to Catholicism lived. With them, 45 missionaries worked.
The remaining mission centers - redusions - in the settlements of San Miguel de Velasco, San Rafael de Velasco, Santa Anna de Velasco, San Javier, San Jose de Chiquitos and Concepcion are now in fact The state in which they were before the expulsion of the Jesuits from the state, which took place in 1767.
Missions transferred under the direction of parish priests, gradually siphoned off, and their population emigrated to other regions of the country. The restoration of missions began only in 1960 under the supervision of the Jesuit Hans Roth. Not only churches were renewed, but also schools and Indian homes. Hans Roth created museums and workshops to maintain in proper condition these historical monuments. Today, a variety of cultural events take place at the Jesuit missions in Chiquitos, including the annual Musica Renacentista Festival from Americana Barocca, which has been held since 1996.
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Architecture of missions
The settlements are interesting with the amazing eclecticism of traditional Catholic architecture and the local Indian. All buildings have roughly the same architecture and layout - based on a description of the ideal city of Arcadia, invented and described by Thomas More in the work "Utopia". In the center there is a rectangular area of 124 to 198 square meters. m. On one side of the square was a temple, on the other - the home of the Indians.
All churches are built according to the designs of the architect Martin Schmidt, who, combining the traditions of European church architecture and architectural features of Indian buildings, created his own style, which is now called the "baroque of the Mestizos." The main material used in the construction is a tree: walls, columns and altars are made of it. As a material for the floor and roofing tiles were used. The walls were plastered and painted with Indian-style drawings, decorated with pilasters, cornices and other decorative elements.
A characteristic element of all the temples of the Jesuit missions to Chikitos in Bolivia is a rose window above the front door and brightly decorated altars and ambo. In addition to the churches themselves, the church complex also included a school, rooms where priests lived, and guest rooms. Indian houses were also erected on model projects, they had a large room measuring 6x4 m and open galleries along the sides. In the center of the square was a large cross, and on four sides from it - small chapels. Behind the church complex were a vegetable garden and a cemetery.
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How to get to the missions?
You can get to San Jose by train or fly by plane from La Paz . From Santa Cruz, you can reach all the missions on the RN4 road: 3.5 hours to San Jose de Chiquitos, 5.5 hours to San Rafael, and over 6 hours to San José de Chiquitos, Miguel.