Photographic and Audiovisual Section of Diocese of Villarrica Archive

The project intends to preserve, safeguard, and catalog the photographic and audiovisual heritage created by the German Capuchin missionaries during the 20th century that is contained in the historical ecclesiastical archive of the Diocese of Villarrica located in La Araucanía Region of Chile.

The historical background of this territorial jurisdiction, as well as the set of documentation that houses its archive, go back mainly to the 19th century, as a testimony of evangelization and the presence of the Catholic Church in a large part of what is the current territory of the southern part of the country. But it also contains an important part of the documentation generated by the Rapa Nui Parish, since 1937 when it was transferred to the Apostolic Vicariate of Araucania—which would later become the Diocese of Villarrica (2002)—and entrusted to the capuchin missionary Sebastián Englert.

The knowledge and dissemination of this unique, unknown material will contribute to intercultural coexistence based on the recognition of indigenous peoples, their history and present, to society. Its enhancement will allow revisiting a history of relations in the territory of south central Chile and Rapa Nui Island will contribute to strengthening lines of research and training in topics such as heritage, aesthetics, ethnolinguistics, oral history and intercultural relations.