Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
seizure of their best lands by the settlers of Santa Cruz. Within a few decades the mis-
sionswere ashadowoftheir former selves, andthis decline hascontinued pretty much ever
since, leaving only the beautiful mission
churches
, now restored to their full glory with
European aid money, to testify to the missions' former prosperity.
San Javier
Some 220km northeast of Santa Cruz,
SAN JAVIER
(also known as San Xavier) is the west-
ernmost of the Chiquitos Jesuit mission towns and was the first to be established in the re-
gion, having been founded in 1691. The town is now a quiet cattle-ranching centre with no
real attractions other than the mission church itself.
Iglesia de San Javier
On the main plaza • Daily 8am-7pm • Free
Completed in 1752 under the direction of
Martin Schmidt
, the formidable Swiss Jesuit
priest, musician and architect who was responsible for several Chiquitos mission churches
(whichwereimmaculately restoredbetween1987and1993undertheguidanceoftheequally
dedicatedSwissJesuitarchitectHansRoth),thehugechurchhasasquat,slopingroofsuppor-
ted by huge spiralled wooden pillars, with a simple Baroque plaster facade. Above the door-
way a
Latin inscription
common to most Jesuit mission churches in Bolivia reads
Domus
Dei et Porta Coeli
(House of God and Gateway to Heaven).
On the right side of the church as you face it a doorway leads into a cloistered
courtyard
,
which features a freestanding bell tower. Inside the church the exquisite modern wooden
re-
tablo
behind the altar features beautiful carved scenes from the Bible and of the Jesuit mis-
sionaries at work in Chiquitos. The IHS inside the flaming sun at the top of the retablo stands
for “Jesus Saviour of Man” in Latin: combined with three nails and a crucifix, this is the sym-
boloftheJesuitorder,andyou'llseeitpaintedandengravedonmissionbuildingsthroughout
Chiquitos.
