The Jesuit Chapels of Nasca
And their Works of Art
The Jesuit Chapels | Chapel Diagrams | 3D Chapel Models | Works of Art
The Jesuit Chapels of San Joseph and San Xavier
Chapel at San José. Photo c.1950, courtesy of the De la Borda Family.
Beginning in 1740, the Jesuit vineyard haciendas San Joseph de la Nasca and San Francisco Xavier de la Nasca experienced construction campaigns that included new chapels built in the late baroque Andean style. The chapel at San Joseph was finished and dedicated on St. Joseph’s Feast Day (March 19) 1744, and the San Xavier chapel in 1745. Because it is no longer safe for visitors to enter the chapels, due to the possibility of bricks falling from overhead, we offer images, descriptions, and a 3D tour of the ruins of these monuments.
Nearly all colonial haciendas had at least a modest chapel, which was intended to serve the spiritual needs of the estate owners and workers. The chapels on Jesuit haciendas in colonial Peru were central to the built environment and design of the hacienda. At the hacienda of Nasca, they were the focus of religious expression, and tools for evangelization – especially of enslaved African and African-descended laborers. Given that often the only Jesuit at San Joseph or San Xavier was the hacienda administrator, and because he was typically a lay brother and not a priest, the Jesuits hired chaplains to celebrate mass and offer the sacraments.
Chapel at San Javier. Photo c.1950, courtesy of the De la Borda Family.
Enslaved labor was used to construct the chapels. Built primarily of fired brick, the chapels at San Joseph and San Xavier feature ornate plaster molded façades, two belfry towers, and a brick atrium. While both chapels have a roughly 300 m2 footprint, San Joseph’s is longer at 44 m. They were built at such a massive scale to accommodate the large enslaved populations. Both have crypts below, featuring an ossuary pit for secondary internment of commingled human remains in sacred ground. At 18 m tall, the belfry towers can be seen from great distances in the valley’s fields. The Jesuit administration had furnished the chapels with expensive works of art and fine furnishings. The expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767 meant that the chapels only saw 22 years of use under the Jesuits before they became property of the Spanish crown.
In 1942, a powerful earthquake ruined the roofs of both chapels. José de la Borda, the hacendado of San José, donated the retablo of the main altar, a confessionary, and the pulpit to the church Virgen del Pilar in San Isidro, Lima. The chapels’ ruined nature attracted visitors who stole many of the remaining paintings and furnishings. The chapels of both haciendas were declared assets of the Cultural Heritage of the Nation of Peru by Supreme Resolution No. 2900 on December 28, 1972, stating that "due to their architecture, artistic value, and connection with historical events,” they are to be protected by law. In 2010, the ruins were listed in the World Monuments Watch.
3D Chapel Models
Three-dimensional photogrammetry - the use of photography to document and measure objects in three-dimensions - has become an important tool for archaeology in recent years. PAHN uses drone photography to document and monitor the conditions of the ruins of the colonial chapels at the sites of San Joseph and San Xavier. Specifically, because these monuments are under constant threat from seismic activity and vandalism, photogrammetry offers a means to monitor their changing conditions. The 3D models below represent the state of the chapels in 2018, before seismic events further deteriorated the structures.
Jesuit chapel of the Hacienda San Joseph de la Nasca.
Jesuit chapel of the Hacienda San Francisco Xavier de la Nasca.
Works of Art
In the 18th century, under the Jesuit administration, the chapels of San Joseph and San Xavier were adorned with rich ornamentation and details. Paintings from important workshops in Lima and Cuzco adorned the walls, but unfortunately, none of these survived the 20th-century abandonment of the chapels. A number of the extant features of the ruins of the chapels are prime examples of viceregal art, including the plaster molding of the façades and exterior and interior embellishments, and mural paintings. A hallmark of the Andean baroque style is its ability to incorporate indigenous elements, in this case, African, into its design – resulting in architecture and art that is not wholly European. Although we do not know who the artists where that produced this art, the aesthetics offer the potential for multiple meanings which would have resonated differently for the diverse African and African-descended enslaved population. The art at these chapels has a remarkable way of connecting the local hacienda experience to a broader early modern world.
Public Religious Art at San Joseph
Works of art incorporated into the exteriors of the chapels or in prominent positions within, were intended to draw the focus of the visitors and worshipers, as well as glorify the divine. The choir paintings, carved wooden altar pieces, and plaster friezes called upon religious, classical, and diverse mythological traditions.
Now missing, choir canvas of the Virgin Mary and the Celestial Court, painted in Cuzco. Photo c.1950, courtesy of the De la Borda Family.
Exterior lintel frieze above the exterior entrance to the sacristy at San Joseph.
Altar retablo and statuary of San José. Photo c.1949, courtesy of the De la Borda Family.
Explore Sculptural Art in 3D
Dog-headed serpent frieze at San Xavier. This motif appears on both sides of the chancel, on the triumphal arch. Among the most syncretic artistic representations at the chapel, it resonates with both European and West African traditional cosmologies.
Interior sacristy lintel at San Joseph. Fifteen panels run from the scalloped edge of the shell; each is adorned with figures, scenes, and floral and geometric decorations in gold paint, depicting animals, everyday scenes, classical mythological elements Click through the annotations of the model for further descriptions and interpretations.
Sculptural sacristy font at San Joseph. A drainage channel concealed in the north wall of the sacristy, allowed water to flow from the mouth of the upper cherub.
The Four Evangelists at San Xavier
While the canvas paintings at both chapels have all been removed, the walls of the domed sacristy at San Xavier bear portraits of the four evangelists: Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Now missing, framed painting of the Coronation of the Virgin Mary. Photo c.1950, courtesy of the De La Borda Family.
St. Matthew.
St. Luke.
St. Mark.
St. John.
