Iglesia de Cristo Obrero y Nuestra Señora de Lourdes

The Church of Christ the Worker and Our Lady of Lourdes (Spanish: Iglesia de Cristo Obrero y Nuestra Señora de Lourdes), also known simply as Iglesia de Estación Atlántida, is a Roman Catholic parish church and a World Heritage Site in Estación Atlántida, Uruguay.[1][2]

Iglesia de Cristo Obrero y Nuestra Señora de Lourdes
Façade of the Iglesia de Estación Atlántida, 2011
Religion
AffiliationRoman Catholic
RiteRoman Rite
Ecclesiastical or organizational statusParish church
Year consecrated1960
StatusActive
Location
LocationEstación Atlántida, Uruguay
Iglesia de Cristo Obrero y Nuestra Señora de Lourdes is located in Uruguay
Iglesia de Cristo Obrero y Nuestra Señora de Lourdes
Shown within Uruguay
Geographic coordinates34°44′38″S 55°45′59″W / 34.74392°S 55.7664°W / -34.74392; -55.7664
Architecture
Architect(s)Eladio Dieste
TypeChurch
StyleModernist
MaterialsBrick
Official name: The work of engineer Eladio Dieste: Church of Atlántida
CriteriaCultural: (iv)
Designated2021 (44th session)
Reference no.1612
State PartyUruguay
RegionLatin America

Description

edit

The temple is dedicated to Christ the Worker and Our Lady of Lourdes.[3] It constitutes a renowned architectural landmark, it was designed in 1958 by the engineer Eladio Dieste. It is architecturally striking, described as "a simple rectangle, with side walls rising up in undulating curves to the maximum amplitude of their arcs" these walls supporting a similarly undulating roof, composed of a sequence of reinforced brick Gaussian vaults developed by Eladio Dieste.

The cylindrical bell-tower, built in openwork exposed brick masonry, rises from the ground to the right of the main church facade, while the underground baptistery is located on the left side of the parvis, accessible from a triangular prismatic entrance and illuminated via a central oculus.

The Church provides an eminent example of the remarkable formal and spatial achievements of modern architecture in Latin America during the second part of the 20th century, embodying the search for social equality with a spare use of resources, meeting structural imperatives to great aesthetic effect.

The material is a very simple brickwork, which conforms a novel utilization of exposed bricks in a reinforced ceramics structure.[4]

In 2021 the Church was proclaimed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the name "The work of engineer Eladio Dieste: Church of Atlántida".[5]

References

edit
  1. ^ "Cristo Obrero". Diocese of Canelones. Archived from the original on 20 June 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2013. (in Spanish)
  2. ^ Porley, Carolina (28 April 2017). "The other creators". Brecha. (in Spanish)
  3. ^ Iglesia Cristo Obrero y Nuestra Señora de Lourdes Archived 2016-03-13 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
  4. ^ Ching, Frank; Jarzombek, Mark; Prakash, Vikramaditya (2007). A global history of architecture. J. Wiley & Sons. p. 732. ISBN 978-0-471-26892-5. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
  5. ^ UNESCO (27 July 2021). "Cultural sites in Africa, Arab Region, Asia, Europe, and Latin America inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List". UNESCO. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
edit