Abstract

PAREDES CISNEROS, Santiago. Churches in Tierradentro: Building, Use, and Meaning among the Páez Indians from the Governorship of Popayán, 17 ^th -18 ^th Centuries. rev.estud.soc. [online]. 2018, n.64, pp.55-74. ISSN 0123-885X.  https://doi.org/10.7440/res64.2018.05.

A discussion of this group of churches in Tierradentro (formerly the Province of Páez) has virtually been absent from historical studies of the Páez Indians. This article suggests that a qualitative analysis of the scarce archival material about the churches and their architecture enables one to trace the Colonial origin of these buildings, establishing their singular conception as chapels independent from the design of “pueblos de indios”, understanding how they were used, and explaining their permanence in time. It also maintains that such churches were an important feature of social and spatial organization, with which the Páez redefined the ideal of congregation in villages, with its religious and territorial connotations, in a province where the intervention of Spanish settlers and authorities was limited during the Colonial period.

Keywords : churches; architecture; doctrine; Páez Indians; 17^th Century; 18^th Century.

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