Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos

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.

[8] With the permission of King Philip II of Spain a group of Jesuits traveled to the Viceroyalty of Peru in 1568, some 30 years after the arrival of the Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians and Mercedarians.

In 1592 the settlement had to be moved 250 kilometres (160 mi) west because of conflicts with natives, although the remains of the original town exist in the Santa Cruz la Vieja archaeological site.

With encouragement from Agustín Gutiérrez de Arce, the governor of Santa Cruz, the Jesuits focused their efforts on the Chiquitania, where the Christian doctrine was more readily accepted.

The local Piñoca tribe, who were suffering from a plague, begged Arce and Rivas to stay and promised to build a house and a church for the Jesuits, which were finished by the end of year.

The church is nonetheless a largely faithful 20th-century reconstruction – as opposed to renovation (a key criterion for inclusion in the World Heritage Site group) – of the second Jesuit templo built in 1761.

[17] In 1766 Jesuits were accused of causing Esquilache Riots in Madrid; consequently in February 1767, Charles III of Spain signed a royal decree with expulsion orders for all members of the Society of Jesus in Spanish territories.

In practice, the shortage of clergy and the low quality of those appointed by the bishop – almost all of whom did not speak the language of the local peoples and in some cases had not been ordained – led to a rapid general decline of the missions.

In January 1790, the Audiencia of Charcas ended the diocese’s mismanagement, and temporal affairs were delegated to civil administrators, with the hope of making the missions economically more successful.

[18] Sixty years after the expulsion of the Jesuits the churches remained active centers of worship, as the French naturalist Alcide d'Orbigny reported during his mission to South America in 1830 and 1831.

The complex, consisting of the church, bell tower, sacristy and a grassy plaza lined by houses, is considered to have the most fidelity to the original plan of the Jesuit reductions.

[3][9][26] In their design of the reductions, the Jesuits were inspired by “ideal cities“ as outlined in works such as Utopia and Arcadia, written respectively by the 16th-century English philosophers Thomas More and Philip Sidney.

The Jesuits had specific criteria for building sites: locations with plenty of wood for construction; sufficient water for the population; good soil for agriculture; and safety from flooding during the rainy season.

Out of the original ten missions, only the plaza at Santa Ana de Velasco does not show major changes, consisting as it did in colonial times, of an open grassy space.

[nb 9] Once a settlement had been established, the missionaries, working with the native population, began to erect the church, which served as the educational, cultural and economic center of the town.

The initial church in each mission (except in Santa Ana de Velasco) was temporary, essentially no more than a chapel and built as quickly as possible of local wood, unembellished save for a simple altar.

In San Xavier the quotation is in Spanish: CASA DE DIOS Y PUERTA DEL CIELO ; and in Latin at the other two churches: DOMUS DEI ET PORTA COELI, meaning The house of god and the gate of heaven.

[26] The construction of the restored churches seen today falls in the period between 1745 and 1770 and is characterized by the use of locally available natural materials like wood, used in the carved columns, pulpits and sets of drawers.

Paint in earth tones was applied over the lime whitewash, and ornaments were drawn, featuring elements from flora and fauna, as well as angels, saints and geometrical patterns.

The tradition of figure carving has been preserved to the present day in workshops where carvers make columns, finials and windows for new or restored churches or chapels in the area.

In the 1960s, the San Ignacio de Velasco church (a non-current UNESCO WHS) was replaced with modern construction; in the 1990s, Hans Roth and his co-workers brought the restoration as close as possible to the original edifices.

[20][34] Though the settlements were officially a part of the Viceroyalty of Peru through the Royal Audiencia of Charcas and of the diocese of Santa Cruz in church affairs, their remoteness made them effectively autonomous and self-sufficient.

As early as 1515, the Franciscan friar Bartolomé de las Casas had initiated a "foreigner law" for the "'Indian people'", and no white or black man, other than the Jesuits and authorities, was allowed to live in the missions.

The thriving economy in the reductions enabled them to export surplus goods to all parts of Upper Peru, although ironically not to Paraguay – the region the Jesuits most wanted to reach.

[nb 11] Schmid in particular was responsible for this skill being developed to such a high degree that polyphonic choirs would perform, and whole orchestras would play Baroque operas on handmade instruments.

He built an organ with six stops in Potosí, disassembled it, transported it by mules over a distance of 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) on a difficult road to the remote mission of Santa Ana de Velasco, and re-assembled it there from hand.

Your Reverence would be able to observe here, how children which were torn away from the jungle just a year ago, together with their parents are able today to sing well and with an absolutely firm beat, they play the zither, lyre and the organ and dance with precise movements and rhythm, that they might compete with the Europeans themselves.

We teach these people all these mundane things so they may get rid of their rude customs and resemble civilized persons, predisposed to accept Christianity.”Some Jesuit institutions still exist in the Chiquitania.

There are other primary sources as yet unexamined, the majority of which are archived in Cochabamba, Sucre, and Tarija (in Bolivia); Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Tucumán (in Argentina); Asunción (Paraguay); Madrid; and Rome.

References to many others are found in the extensive bibliography offered by Roberto Tomichá Charupá, OFM, in La Primera Evangelización en las Reducciones de Chiquitos, Bolivia (1691-1767), pp.

Topographic map showing major towns and villages in the Chiquitania and the Jesuit missions. The Jesuit missions are in the highlands north-east of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, in eastern Bolivia, close to the Brazil border.
Locations of the Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos with present international borders
Map of South America, the Caribbean and the eastern part of North America. Several administrative regions are indicated, among others in the north of South America, the New Kingdom of Granada, covering roughly present-day Venezuela, the Guyanas and parts of Colombia. Roughly present-day Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia are marked as pertaining to the Viceroyalty of Peru. Roughly present-day Uruguay, Paraguay, and parts of Argentina and Brazil are marked, pertaining to Paraguay. Santa Cruz de la Sierra is marked in the Viceroyalty of Peru close to the border to Paraguay.
America in 1705
Map showing Jesuit province of Paraguay and neighboring areas, with the main missions and missionary journeys. The Chiquitos missions are depicted in woodlands between the rivers San Miguel in the west and Paraguay to the east. A path leads from Santa Cruz de la Sierra to San Xavier.
Map from 1732 depicting Paraguay and Chiquitos with the missions San Xavier ( S. Xavier ), Concepción ( Concepc. ), San Rafael de Velasco ( S. Raphael ), San Miguel de Velasco ( S. Miguel ), San José de Chiquitos ( San Joseph ) and San Juan Bautista ( S. Juan ).
Graph showing population data of the period from 1718 to 1833. The population increased steadily reaching a maximum of about 24,000 people in 1767. This rise is followed by a sharp decline with a minimum of about 17,000 inhabitants around the year 1790. From around 1800 to 1820 the population lies around 21,000. It falls sharply to about 15,000 in 1830.
Population in the Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos
Two men and two women. The men wear necklaces with crosses around their necks. One of the women wears a necklace the other shown from the back has braided hair. Three of them wear wide robes, the third wears a shirt and kneelength trousers.
Converted Chiquitos Indians in a drawing by Alcide d'Orbigny from 1831
A church and bell-tower in frontal view. The whitish facade is decorated with motifs painted in orange. A wooden cross is positioned at the top of the roof.
Interior view facing main entrance, church, San Rafael de Velasco, Bolivia
Mission complex, San José de Chiquitos, Bolivia
A church and bell-tower in frontal view. The whitish facade is decorated with motives painted in orange. A cross is positioned at the top of the roof.
A church and stone bell-tower in three-quarter view. The whitish facade of the church is decorated with motives painted in orange. A wooden cross is positioned at the top of the roof.
A wooden bell-tower and a church from in frontal view beyond a grassy area. A cross is positioned at the top of the roof.
Grasslands interspersed by palm and other trees.
Typical landscape in the Chiquitania
Plan of a settlement with French labels showing buildings, fields, a river, lakes and roads laid out as described in the text.
Layout of the Jesuit mission Concepción de Moxos, which shows all the major features of the Chiquitos missions as well.
The cross section of a house with open roofed galleries on either side of the house.
Cross-section through a Bolivian house with open galleries.
A church courtyard with a sundial in the center of the courtyard and a wooden bell-tower in the corner of the courtyard. The bell tower consists of a roofed platform supported by four wooden columns. Stairs lead up to the platform. The sundial is located at the end of a wooden column.
Courtyard of the church in San Xavier with sundial and bell tower.
Two rows of columns inside the church form three aisles. In the two corners of the church on the altar side there are two rooms partitioned off. Along the front of the church and both outer sides runs another line of columns.
Schematic plan of the churches in San Xavier, Concepción, San Rafael de Velasco and San Miguel de Velasco
The nave of a church in three-quarter view and the left aisle with windows. The interior is dominated by white and bright orange colors. At the back, there is an altar with a statue surrounded by a five-paneled reredos.
Interior of the church in San Xavier
A wooden door of the main entrance to the church and wooden roof of the front porch. The whitish wall is decorated with floral motives painted in orange and a large oval window surrounded by flower petals is located above the door.
Front porch of the church in San Xavier with a large oval " oeil-de-boeuf " window
A painting on carved wood showing various people, among others: American Indians, a black person, two European-looking persons. The central figure is St. Paul, with a halo holding a book with red cover in his left and a sword in his right hand.
Modern reredos behind the altar in the cathedral of Concepción
A string concert performed by people in white robes sitting in front of the altar.
A concert in front of the altar at San Xavier.
A choir and musicians dressed in white robes inside a church.
A choir in the church of San Xavier.
A statue of St. Peter placed on a pedestal in front of an entrance to the church. The facade of the church and inside is lit up and people are standing around the statue.
A statue of Saint Peter at the main entrance of the church of San Xavier.