Located in the Marcapata Valley, the church of San Francisco de Asís was built between the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries and exemplifies the “Andean baroque,” a form of architecture that emerged from the intersection of Spanish and local culture during the colonial period. The rubble stone masonry is finished with an earthen render and capped with a thatched roof.
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Located in the Marcapata Valley, the church of San Francisco de Asís was built between the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries and exemplifies the “Andean baroque,” a form of architecture that emerged from the intersection of Spanish and local culture during the colonial period. The rubble stone masonry is finished with an earthen render and capped with a thatched roof.
For over 400 years, the church has been maintained by the community through the traditional ceremony of repaje. Every four years, the residents of Marcapata come together for a week-long repaje celebration where they replace the thatch on the roof. The polychrome murals in the interior depict Christian and pre-Columbian Andean religious traditions. The church has suffered damage due from natural aging and lack of resources for its maintenance; the roof structure has deteriorated, and progressive rainwater infiltration and the absence of appropriate drainage have damaged the murals. The transmission of the repaje skills from generation to generation is threatened by changing community demographics. The new Inter-Oceanic Highway connecting ports in Peru and Brazil, built by the Brazilian company Obredecht, passes through Marcapata, creating development pressures and changes in the landscape of the town.
