Abstract

The complete cycle of mural paintings in the Church of the Nativity in Parinacota provides insight into conditions in the community during the 18th century, and appears to depict three apparently contradictory realities. First, unlike any other church in the Southern Andes, the pictorial scheme conveys all the dimensions of Christian doctrine with a pessimistic perspective on the community's conversion to Christianity. Second, the authors identify numerous representations of indigenous people actively participating in the ritual life of the Church, implying that religious ignorance may have been compatible with the practices of piety and receiving the sacraments. Lastly, the paintings contain iconographies that reflect the efforts of Parinacota residents to merge their Christian beliefs with their ancestral knowledge and practices.