History

The Jesuits first arrived in Lima, Peru, in 1569 and were assigned to the religious instruction of the Aymaras on Lake Titicaca. They moved to Paraguay where they set up an autonomous religious state. It was from there that they expanded northwards to the vast unexplored region of the eastern lowlands of Bolivia, reaching Santa Cruz only in 1587.

The Jesuits then set about the seemingly impossible task of converting the various indigenous communities to Christianity and persuading them to first build and then live together in self-sufficient settlements. These settlements of 2000-4000 inhabitants, known as reducciones, were organized into productive units, headed by two or three Jesuit priests. Architects, sculptors and musicians were enlisted to help construct the churches and communities. They also formed military units which, for a time, were the strongest and best trained on the continent. These armies provided a defence against the slave-hunting Portuguese in Brazil and the more aggressive native tribes.

Politically, the settlements were ruled by the Audiencia de Charcas and ecclesiastically by the Bishop of Santa Cruz, but in reality, due to their isolation, they enjoyed a considerable degree of independence. The internal administration was the responsibility of a council of eight indigenous people, each of whom represented an ethnic group, and who met each day to receive the orders of the priests.

In 18th-century terms the reduccioneswere run on remarkably democratic principles. The land and the workshops were the property of the community and work was obligatory for all able-bodied members. Nevertheless, the Jesuits' prime concern was to save souls, therefore the indigenous customs and beliefs were largely suppressed. So effectively were Christian values imposed on the people, that little is known about the indigenous cultures of this region except what symbolism the natives were sometimes able to express in their ingenious carvings, replicas of which still decorate the mission churches today.

In saying that, however, the establishment of the reduccionesbrought economic advantages to this previously barren corner of Bolivia. Such was the success of the Jesuits' commercial network with the Quechuas and Aymaras of the highlands that a surplus was sent in the form of money to Europe as well as being used to enhance the splendour of the churches. These massive temples were the biggest and most beautiful in the Americas, each one built by hand by the indígenasunder the supervision of the priests. Because of the distances between the mission settlements, each church is distinctive from the others.

The Jesuits also trained the indígenasto become great craftsmen in wood and precious metals. They even taught them to make and play unfamiliar musical instruments such as the violin and the harp. Each settlement had its own orchestra, which performed concerts and even Italian baroque operas. The orchestral music fascinated the indigenous peoples and was a factor in persuading them to partake in the Jesuit experiment. More important than that, though, in ensuring their full cooperation was the fact that those who formed part of the reduccionesremained free from the system of encomiendas, whereby groups of labourers were sent to the mines of Potosí.

The Expulsion of the Jesuits

Despite the economic and religious success of the Jesuit settlements and the fact that they played a large part in limiting the territorial ambitions of Portuguese Brazil, in 1767 the missions were dismantled by royal and papal decree and the Jesuits expelled from the continent.

There were various reasons given for the Jesuits' expulsion, some of them less than credible. Basically, the Spanish Crown became aware of their influence and success in this part of South America and believed they had usurped too much power from the state. Furthermore, this was the age of enlightenment and the militant Jesuits were seen as a major obstacle to the progress of reason. Finally, the success of the Jesuits caused considerable jealously amongst some of the older religious orders, many of whom wanted to establish inroads themselves in the new continent.

Whatever the real motivation, many of the settlements were abandoned and the inhabitants suffered the consequences. The priests who replaced the Jesuits treated the indigenous peoples badly, fomenting war and hatred among the disparate groups while prospering from the livestock that had been introduced to the region. Even after independence the exploitation of the local people continued during the years of the rubber boom. Scarcely fifty years after the expulsion of the Jesuits, the missions had become decrepit shantytowns.

Amazingly, the mission buildings survived this upheaval and the more than a century of isolation that followed. But their survival was precarious at best, and the tropical climate meant they deteriorated badly. By the 1950s, all of them were well on the way to ruin, although each continued to function as a church. Their salvation came in the form of a Swiss architect, Hans Roth, who dedicated 27 years to the restoration of the churches built by his fellow countryman, Father Martin Schmidt, more than two centuries before. Sadly, he developed lung cancer and died in 1999 in Austria, aged 65, before he could see the end of the restoration of the last church to be restored, Santa Ana de Velasco. At the time, he was still looking for an expert to translate the missionaries' baroque music.

Fortunately, in the past few years, much has been done to carefully promote the heritage of these Jesuit mission churches and their towns. An international music and drama festival is held every two years in the city of Santa Cruz and throughout the region , the astonishing sacred art of Chiquitanía is displayed in museums all over the world, and a Hans Roth Museum has been opened in Concepción. Along with Parque Nacional Noel Kempff Mercado, one could argue that the Jesuit missions are the best-preserved and most 'authentic' patrimonies to be found in Bolivia.