Batete Church

About Batete Church

The Spanish-inspired Batete Church, located on the west coast of Bioko Island, is the cherished and regularly-used parish church for the village of Batete. The wooden building is a 1920 design by Lluis Sagarra, a Clarentian priest who trained in the same school as famous Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi. In the late nineteenth century, the Clarentians established a trade school at the Banapa Mission on the outskirts of Malabo to train local carpenters. A School of Arts and Crafts was also established at the Mission, where Lluis Sagarra taught. Batete Church, built by local carpenters and students likely trained by Sagarra in an eclectic neo-gothic style, was completed in 1926 and is part of a complex of buildings housing the Mission school and residence built around an open square. The church’s humble and solid exterior design contrasts with the slender columns, vaulted ceilings, and large stained glass windows that give the interior space an extraordinary sense of lightness. In a lush tropical setting as Equatorial Guinea, it is remarkable that the wooden church’s original design has remained intact.

Saving one of the country’s remaining historic monuments

Previous restoration works initiated in 2003 were not complete and the church faces significant structural threats. The slender timber posts either side of the nave, which form the building’s superstructure and support the roof and vaulted ceiling, are leaning outward at an alarming angle.

It is likely that the posts are being pushed outward because trusses in the roof are failing and causing them to sag. The roof leaks badly in places, allowing water into the building and a temporary roof installed in 2003 is still in place fifteen years later, causing serious deterioration.

To address these concerns and protect the historic church against further decay, World Monuments Fund will carry out a conservation campaign in 2020 and 2021 to diagnose and treat the cause and extent of the damage. The project team will undertake a full conditions assessment to define urgent interventions, which will then be carried out by local carpenters. A new roof will replace the temporary cover and monitoring equipment will be installed to assess the stability of the structure. The project is a collaboration between WMF and the Equatorial Guinea Ministry of Culture and Clarentian Mission, supported by the US Government through the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation and Kosmos Energy, as well as the Wilson Charitable Trust.

World Monuments Fund's work at Batete Cathedral is made possible, in part, by support from the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, U.S. Embassy Malabo, and Kosmos Energy.