Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary of Guanacache Lagoons, Mendoza: Restoration, Community, and Continuance in the Desert

Abstract

The Chapel of our Lady of the Rosary of Guanacache is a valuable exemplar of architectural and cultural heritage in the desert of Cuyo, reflecting the close-knit relationship between land, community, and building practice. The current chapel, the product of several reconstructions, embodies traditional raw-earth techniques, such as adobe or mud, which define its materiality and its adaptation to this arid environment. The recent restoration gave priority to participation by the Huarpe community, a repository of building knowledge handed down from generation to generation. The process reaffirmed the value of this heritage from an inclusive perspective in which material preservation is inseparably bound up with the continuity of this knowledge and with cultural identity.