Current Watch Site

Todos Santos complex is located in the heart of Cuenca, Ecuador, deep within the Tomebamba River Valley. During the Inca era, the site of Todos Santos was the center for spiritual celebrations. After the Spanish Conquest, Catholicism was woven into the region’s social fabric and Catholic mass was celebrated at Todos Santos for the first time in 1540.

Cuenca’s Inca and colonial heritage are intertwined with a modern city. It is easy to understand the desirability and early prosperity of this Andean settlement because of the convergence of four rivers and abundant natural resources in the basin formed by mountains around the city. The white façade of the Todos Santos church was created in the manner of Spanish colonial Gothic Revival, but was built with the traditional materials of adobe and bahareque, a pre-Inca construction technique mixing sugar cane, straw, local plants, and clay.

The historic center of Cuenca was inscribed on the World Heritage list in 1999, confirming the importance of the ensemble of historic buildings, streetscapes, and cultural patrimony that have endured. In 2005, aging electrical installations caused a fire that resulted in the death of one of the convent’s nuns, and also critically damaged the infrastructure of Todos Santos. Natural aging has also left areas of the complex in states of deterioration, while others have simply been abandoned. Preservation of Todos Santos poses challenges that can only be met through broad community participation and innovation.