Festive Arches in the Andean Altiplano. Materialities, Ephemeral Architecture and Ontological Status

Abstract

SUMMARY The article looks at the history of ephemeral festive arches in the pre-Hispanic, colonial, and contemporary Southern Andes. Beginning with a description and analysis of colonial-era triumphal arches, erected for secular and religious festivals in cities such as Cuzco and Potosí, we explore modes of local appropriation through semantic references to Inca festive arches and to the rainbow as an important motif in Andean mythology. However, European triumphal arches did not simply replace indigenous arches. To investigate the symbolic meanings of these indigenous arches, which cannot be inferred from textual and pictorial historical sources, we turn to the actual arkus, which are very common in the Aymara highlands. This interdisciplinary and transversal analysis of ephemeral arches and the practices associated with them provides insights into the dynamics, the material dimensions, and diversity of transculturation.

Keywords

• Andean ontologies
• Ephemeral architecture
• Festive arches
• Qeros
• Inca mythology