Photo Gallery

The old Church of Santa Ana in Chipaya was built of adobe (air-dried mud bricks) and had a fragile thatched roof (paja). The photograph shows the roof being repaired (1976). Due to the extreme weather conditions in the highlands (strong winds, sandstorms and seasonal flooding from the River Lauca), the unprotected mud walls of the old structure crumbled over the decades after the roof was damaged. Rather than undertaking a costly restoration of the old, dilapidated adobe church, a new, modern church building was erected in the village centre. The historic, free-standing bell tower from the colonial era, which was deliberately built in isolation and completely separate from the main building, remained standing untouched as an important landmark and ritual focal point for the village community. – Chipaya (Oruro Department) – Bolivia – 1976