Watch Day in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas

The Mexican state of Chiapas is named after an indigenous population, the Chiapa, who got their name from the chia plant, a species native to Mexico and Guatemala. During colonial times, Chiapas was relatively isolated from the governments of Mexico and Guatemala, and in 1849 the local politician Angel Albino Corzo established the independence of the Department of Chiapas.

Although political strife was common in the region during the years following the independence from Spain, Chiapas came to international attention as a result of the Zapatista uprisings in the 1990s led by Juan Sebastián Guillén, better known as Sub-Comandante Marcos. Almost 30 years and some political and human rights gains later, Marcos, now under the name of Comandante Galeano (named after a dead revolutionary), has focused his center of operations to an area near the archaeological site of Yaxchilán called Realidad (Reality).

San Cristobal is located in the Altos de Chiapas region of the state, 50 kilometers from Tuxla Gutierrez, the capital of the state and the site of the nearest airport. The new road built in 2006 makes this journey a lot shorter and safer than the old road, which according to Don Ramiro, my driver, “it had 365 curves, one for each day of the year.”

While Tuxla is the political capital, San Cristobal de las Casas is the cultural capital of the state. The town is listed as a Pueblo Magico (Magic Town), a distinction that recognizes its historic and urban qualities, but which does not imply any legal protection or regulation. As a result, the pressures of tourism and economic development are starting to take a toll on the historic fabric of the town.

Some of the most important historic monuments of San Cristobal and the nearby town of Teopisca are their churches, and in particular their baroque retablos (altarpieces), built by the Dominican and Franciscan orders in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. These were included on the 2014 World Monuments Watch due to their deterioration despite the efforts of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the different parishes, and several civil associations to preserve them.

All these interested organizations came together on August 5, 2014, to celebrate the Retablos de los Altos de Chiapas Watch Day with a press conference, panel discussions, site visits, and children’s educational activities, organized with the support of WMF to raise local awareness about the plight of these important works of art, their significance in the history of the region, and the urgent need to preserve them.

Although religious festivities are still a strong component of the town’s calendar, as demonstrated during my stay in San Cristobal by the fireworks that for two days announced the feast of the Señor de la Transfiguración, patron saint of the Cerrillo neighborhood, the religious fervor and the popular support for the conservation of their churches is waning, in part due to economic realities and the competition posed by the increasingly popular non-Catholic faiths in the region.

Watch-listing of the Retablos de los Altos de Chiapas is intended to facilitate the integration of the local community and authorities in the preservation of these important historic elements not just as sacred objects of cult, but as artistic, cultural, and economic resources through conservation and interpretation programs