Churches of Chiloé

• Insufficient delimitation of boundaries
• Construction of a shopping mall in the vicinity of the Castro Church

A World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS reactive monitoring mission visited the property in December 2013. Subsequently, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report in February 2014. Both reports are available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/971/documents. Implementation of actions is reported as follows:

• Definition of new buffer zones: Preliminary Protection Areas (APP) for each component of the serial property have been proposed. This is a first approach for the definition of wider settings, as part of the implementation of the Program for Integral Protection of Churches Settings. The final boundaries will be addressed as typical zones, which is the official national category for protection of buffer zones and settings with their regulatory measures. This process is expected to be concluded in October 2014;
• Creation of the National World Heritage Committee in October 2013, with representatives of Ministries, the National Monuments Council (CMN) and other Institutions to develop an integral strategy and a Public Policy for conservation, management and sustainable development of World Heritage properties in Chile;
• Elaboration of a new draft law in January 2014 to modify Law No. 17288 of National Monuments to establish Regional Councils of the CMN; 
• Implementation of the National Policy for Urban Development, adopted in May 2013, to establish national guidelines and strategies on urban matters, which includes a thematic chapter of Identity and Heritage;
• A draft of a Regulatory Framework for the Typical Zones has been approved by the CMN in December 2013 and awaits implementation through a Decree by the Ministry of Education; 
• The FUNDAICH (Foundation Friends of the Churches of Chiloé) undertook restoration and conservation works and capacity building programmes. Information on updated intervention criteria for the Churches was provided.
• The construction of the mall at the City of Castro has been completed. On 5 December 2013, the Castro Municipal Works Department legalised construction with Permit No. 434. The Supreme Court of Chile has rejected the appeal seeking the building’s demolition. The reactive monitoring mission considered that the new mall has now become a prevailing element of Castro’s skyline, competing with the silhouette of the towers of the Church surrounded by the traditional setting, and has therefore impacted on the visual qualities of this component part of the property.

The actions undertaken by the State Party for the adequate delimitation of buffer zones are well noted. However there are additional aspects that need to be observed. The Plan for Integral Protection as Typical Zones does not state the characteristics of wider setting for all the components of the property, considering that only 5 churches from the total of 16 have currently delimitated their Typical Zones. Therefore, the State Party could adopt as preliminary boundaries the proposed Preliminary Protection Areas until the process of legal regulation of all Typical Zones is achieved. However, the extension of these areas needs to be subsequently reviewed to include wider setting as expressed in the technical recommendations made by the mission. The final proposal should include precise boundaries delimited in maps, and the characteristics of each zone to protect the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, as well as clear regulations to control possible threats to the visual qualities of the component parts. The result of this process needs to be submitted for review by the World Heritage Committee as a minor boundary modification.

Efforts should be sustained to strengthen the capacities of the National Monuments Council (CMN) and ensure a more coordinated action with other administrative levels and sectors.

The State Party and FUNDAICH have made important efforts in the restoration of the churches. However, resources and trained experts will be required to continue interventions, given the significant vulnerability of the churches with regard to the construction materials and the environmental conditions. Conservation efforts should also be the means to enhance the traditional values of communitarian work and to assure adequate supply of woods for restoration works.

Regarding the construction of the mall at Castro, the mission assessed the key importance of all the churches as dominant elements in the landscape and as references for the navigation in the Archipelago. This is a significant attribute of the property that was present at its nomination and was recently highlighted in the Retrospective Statement of OUV adopted by the World Heritage Committee in 2013. In line with the findings of the mission, it is considered that the new mall impacts on the visual qualities of the property, affects its OUV and causes a negative impact over and compromises the wider setting of the church of Castro. The mall will also exacerbate the generation of additional traffic flow and could cause instability for the structure of the church.

Given the above, mitigation measures need to be urgently developed to address the impact of the Castro shopping mall on the setting and visual character of this component of the property. This will entail a thorough review of potential architectural measures and possibly the creation of green areas or vegetation screens.