Parinacota (place)
Coordinates: 18 ° 12 ′ S , 69 ° 16 ′ W
Parinacota is a small village in the Region de Arica y Parinacota in Chile .
location
It is located on the high plateau at 4,400 m altitude in the Lauca National Park near the small town of Putre and has 29 inhabitants. The region gained in importance through the mining of lithium-containing salt in the Salar de Surire .
church
The church was built in the 17th century in the shape of a central nave with two side chapels. The stone and clay walls are supported by external stone arches without mortar. The floor is made of bricks with a central strip of gray stones. Originally there was no choir. One without a railing was subsequently built, and one of the most interesting frescoes in the area, the “Last Judgment”, was destroyed in the process. The courtyard is surrounded by a mud wall on which there are numerous figures made of red stone: a bishop, lilies, phalluses and others. The square tower was rebuilt in 1789 and whitewashed with white lime.
Noteworthy are the frescoes in the interior, which were painted with watercolors on the plastered walls by Indians in the Andean Baroque style of the 17th century. The “Last Judgment” suggests that only women are sentenced. The Archangel St. Michael weighs you naked on scales and there are ways to go to purgatory, to climb into heaven above clouds, as well as stairs to the mouth of a dragon through which one goes to hell, equipped with torture devices is. The condemned women are forced to advance on foot, by the hair or on all fours as mounts by demons. One of them guides the agents of evil with a big smile, not knowing what to expect. Somewhere a Spaniard and a mestizo chat carelessly with the devil with a female face, apparently immune to the punishments of hell thanks to their male gender.
Picture gallery
Village entrance
A street
The church with the tower
Fresco inside the church: Crucifixion of Jesus by the conquistadores
