Catholic Churches of the Colonial Period in the Southern Andes of Peru: An Evocation towards the Past

Abstract

The spectral space of the Andes has an architectural cultural richness based on the construction of shrines with a Christian tendency from Spain. The purpose of the study is to analyze and describe the historical process of the colonial Catholic churches located in the Aymara Altiplano of Peru. The study followed the qualitative parameter of historical documentation, where the colonial origin of the buildings was traced, their singular conceptual designs were established, and their use was examined, to finally explain their permanence in time, since they developed in two transcendental moments: the diachronic history and the systematic description of the characteristics in the current churches. Ecclesiastical sanctuaries such as San Pedro and San Pablo, San Juan Evangelista, Concepcion, and Santa Barbara began their construction in 1560, being the first and the oldest to be constituted by the Spanish, but strictly with functions of Christianizing and the collection of taxes from the indigenous people of the Altiplano.

Keywords

• Catholic Church
• Christianization
• architecture
• history
• indigenous people