2008-10-22 14:02:41

“I arrive here, where no other has come before, Don Alonso de Ercilla, was the first in a small light boat with only ten passed the drain, the year fifty and eight entering, over one thousand five hundred, at two in the afternoon, the latter day returning to the company that was left.”
That is how Alonso de Ercilla described his passage through the Chacao Canal the day he arrived to the Isla Grande de Chiloé, the moment that the story of this unique Land, full of magic, mythology, landscapes and culture, unlike any other in our Chile, was put down in writing.

The history of Chiloé is synonymous with sacrifice, human industry, cooperation and the “Culture of wood and sea”. Its first inhabitants, the Huilliches, Chonos, Alacalufes and others known as “Canoers”, managed to survive the wilderness, the rigorous climate and extreme solitude. The arrival of the white man, produced, at first, admiration on behalf of the natives. Thinking they were gods, they were respected and soon, the Christian religion preached by Franciscans and Jesuits, became the most effective weapon in subduing the original population. The Chilote is born from this racial mixture, so different, so distant. A being filled with fantasy, lover of silence and trees; of his boats and the sea; of Caleuches and Pincoyas and over all lover of his faith.

Wood is an element that has accompanied the “Chilota Culture” since remote times: their houses, stables, boats, fences and churches are still admired by all visitors to the island. So much that 16 of its churches were declared UNESCO World Heritage sites. They are: the churches of Achao, Quinchao, Nercón, Chonchi, Ichuac, Rilán, Vilupulli, Aldachildo, Tenaún, San Juan, Detif, Colo, Castro, Caguach and Chelín.

However, the weather has been one of the elements that has produced the most damage. Winds, on occasions, of over 150 kilometers per hour, added to the island´s intense rainfall has provoked damage to beams and panelling of the steeples mainly. The structures have been there for almost 300 years and are now some of the oldest standing wooden structures on earth.

In order to preserve them, these buildings were declared National Monument in 1993 and the Fundación Cultural Amigos de las Iglesias de Chiloé submitted 16 of these temples as candidates to become UNESCO World Heritage sites, a title they received at the 24th World Meeting for the UNESCO Heritage Committee, held in Cairs, Australia in the year 2000.

The study and appreciation of the wooden chapels of Chiloé goes back to the 1960´s, when preoccupation arose due to the deterioration of the structures, in contrast with the immense value that they harbour. However, the starting point of endeavors of more permanence was the birth, in 1976, of the “Program for the Protection and Development of the Architectural Heritage of Chiloé”, by agreement between the Bishopric of Ancud and the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanising (FAU) of the Universidad de Chile. Together they implemented a plan to make Chilote architecture known by organizing two photography exhibits: One that traveled through the main cities of Chile, beginning a process of local, national and international appreciation.