The Iglesia de San Francisco is a

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

located in the

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

of Calama,

El Loa El Loa Province ( es, Provincia El Loa) is one of three provinces of the northern Chilean region of Antofagasta (II). It is named after the longest of rivers in Chile, the Loa River. The provincial capital is Calama. Geography and demography A ...

Antofagasta Region The Antofagasta Region ( es, Región de Antofagasta, ) is one of Chile's sixteen first-order administrative divisions. The second-largest region of Chile in area, it comprises three provinces, Antofagasta, El Loa and Tocopilla. It is bordered t ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. Built approximately in 1650, it is the oldest church building in Chile. It was declared as a National Monument in 1951.

History

The church of San Francisco de Chiu Chiu was built in the mid 17th century. It is adjacent to the square of

Chiu Chiu San Francisco de Chiu Chiu, or simply Chiu Chiu, is a village located about northeast of the city of Calama, in El Loa Province of Chile's northern Antofagasta Region. It lies at an elevation of above sea level, close to the confluence of the L ...

. In 1965, the Architecture Branch of the Ministerio de Obras Públicas de Chile carried out a renovation project, which included the replacement of the wooden belfries with two stone belfries on the main facade. The first ones, in turn, had replaced the original belfries, which collapsed in the 19th century.

Description

The church has a

Latin cross A Latin cross or ''crux immissa'' is a type of cross in which the vertical beam sticks above the crossbeam, with the three upper arms either equally long or with the vertical topmost arm shorter than the two horizontal arms, and always with a mu ...

plan. The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

is 27 metres long and 5 metres wide. The walls of the church are of adobe and are 1.2 metres thick.The collar beam roof, made of chañar, algarrobo and

cactus A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Gree ...

, was fastened with

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hog ...

strips and is

nail Nail or Nails may refer to: In biology * Nail (anatomy), toughened protective protein-keratin (known as alpha-keratin, also found in hair) at the end of an animal digit, such as fingernail * Nail (beak), a plate of hard horny tissue at the tip ...

-free. The roof is covered with a thick layer of mud and straw. The church features a

barrel-vaulted A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

entrance. An exterior wall is buttressed by a stepped wall, which leads to the belfries and to the mud covered roof. The church is located in a walled site where there are

graves A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as grave ...

. The interior of the church contains a

crucifix A crucifix (from Latin ''cruci fixus'' meaning "(one) fixed to a cross") is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the ''corpus'' (Lati ...

that is taken out from it during the

processions A procession is an organized body of people walking in a formal or ceremonial manner. History Processions have in all peoples and at all times been a natural form of public celebration, as forming an orderly and impressive ceremony. Religious ...

and a

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

of Jesus Christ being mistreated.

References

1650s architecture Roman Catholic churches in Chile 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Chile {{Chile-church-stub