Chavín de Huántar, Peru
A Pre-Columbian World Heritage Treasure
Many of the ancient structures remain unstable at Chavín de Huantar.
Chavín de Huántar today is in a state of disrepair, primarily from neglect, and is a site with a number of conservation challenges including environmental threats, structural damage, a lack of site maintenance and poverty in the surrounding community. Many of the site’s more interesting and unique elements are stone-lined underground passages known as galleries, which are in danger of collapse due to water penetration within the platform mounds. Natural disasters have impacted the ancient ceremonial center of Chavín as exemplified in 1945 when the site was covered by a huge landslide obscuring temples that had begun to be revealed by excavations.
Chavín was further damaged by a 1970 earthquake that impacted this ancient site and wreaked havoc in the modern towns of the area. As noted in State of Conservation Reports in 1998 and 1999, UNESCO and ICOMOS reported that Chavín was in a very fragile state and that urgent interventions were needed. With its unique mountain setting, traditional cultural context, and separation from encroaching development, Chavín is ideally situated for long-term preservation.
During the annual torrential rains, the large sunken plazas of Chavin frequently flood, damaging the stone walls, their clay mortars, and the engraved stone art that decorates these principal ritual settings. In a similar way, water penetration into the major platforms weakens the clays that bond the structural fills and leads to structural pressures on the massive stone facades of these monuments. This situation requires immediate remedy to avoid substantial damage to the site’s most important features. The graphic lithic art of the site is subject to erosion from rain and solar processes, and is being lost over time.
