Inauguration of works in Calera de las Huérfanas, Colonia

The Ministry of Tourism, within the framework of the Support Program for the Development of Emerging Tourist Destinations carried out with the Inter-American Development Bank, carried out a first stage of works in the heritage and tourist site Calera de las Huérfanas, which had a disbursement of $8,352,760 pesos.

At the inauguration, which took place on the afternoon of this Monday the 27th, Viera was accompanied by the National Director of Tourism, Roque Baudean, the mayor of Colonia, Carlos Moreira; the general director of the Heritage Commission, William Rey, the representative of the Inter-American Development Bank, Mariel Sabra as well as other departmental authorities, entrepreneurs and local operators of the department of Colonia.

Towards the middle of the 18th century, the Society of Jesus established the ranch known as “Calera de las Huérfanas” in what is now Uruguayan territory. It is located in the northwest of the department of Colonia, 16 km from the city of Carmelo.

The Calera de las Huérfanas ranch had an area of ​​140,000 hectares, and at the time it represented an important agricultural-livestock establishment and a production center for construction materials, lime extraction, production of bricks, ceramic tiles and roof tiles, wine production and cheeses, counting on labor of African origin in slavery.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, Calera de las Huérfanas has been recognized for its heritage values, in this sense the 32 hectares that include the ranch center have been declared a National Historical Monument in 1976. The main part of the ranch is preserved and among its ruins the chapel stands out. The entire complex illustrates and commemorates a significant stage in regional history, forming part of the main tourist corridor in South America (Camino de los Jesuitas). The
 
Minister of Tourism, Tabaré Viera, highlighted the inauguration of such an important tourist, heritage and historical place. . Which precisely integrates the program that has been carried out with the countries of the region, such as the Jesuit Way.

The interventions planned in the project for the entire period aim at the conservation of:
• The 19th century Walls (already validated by the Heritage Commission)
• Restructuring of the access Park
• New signage
• Hiking works
• Construction of a Training Center Visitors and cafeteria
• Reconstruction of the Deck and wooden bridge in Hornos de Cal
• Conservation of the Chapel
 
For his part, the General Director of Heritage, William Rey, highlighted the importance of valuing and conserving the historical heritage, such as the chapel and other remains of the missionary network. There is a need to respect assets in their essence and work for their consolidation and permanence, he indicated.
 
One of the works carried out, which is the most important, is the consolidation of the 19th Century Walls for which work was carried out jointly with the Ministry of Education and Culture through the National Heritage Commission, the Municipality of Colonia and the Pro Calera Movement Civil Association of the Huérfanas, there a consensus was reached and it was decided to prioritize and begin the intervention due to its state of deterioration and its imminent danger of collapse.
 
It should be noted that for this work, financial financing was also obtained from the Colonia Municipality of $575,023 pesos.

Mayor Carlos Moreira highlighted the work carried out, emphasizing the number of tourists who visit the place and announced that the Mayor will bituminize all access from the city of Carmelo to the emblematic site.

In a second stage, several secondary works were carried out that aimed to improve the visitor experience at the heritage and tourist site, among them the following stand out:

- Visitor Room: Thousands of visitors come to the Heritage Site each year and it is important to be able to contemplate the difficulties they face, for example the lack of accessibility. To overcome this situation, the construction of an eave, accessible ramp and door and gate arrangement was carried out.

- Lime Kilns Trail: A place worth highlighting in the Estancia de Belén are the Lime Kilns, the main source of production for the Jesuits, for this reason the decks and bridge were conditioned in the lime kilns.  

- Digital Totem: So that the visitor can adequately live the experience in the heritage and tourist site, a digital Totem was included in the Visitors' room where they can interact and give value to the virtual reconstruction of the Estancia de Belén.
 
- Signage: With the aim of having a good story and signage of the site so that the visitor can recreate and understand the culture, production and identity of the Jesuit era, the signage of the heritage circuit was updated, and signs were added indicating the parking lots, the path to the Lime Kilns among others.

- Perimeter sidewalk Visitor Room: To continue with the actions within the Site that allow visitors an adequate experience and continuing with the actions to improve accessibility, a perimeter sidewalk was created to facilitate the transfer to the bathrooms.  
 
- Video Visitor Room: Upon arriving at the Heritage and Tourist Site, the first point of visit is the Interpretation Room, for this a new informative video on the history of the place was made.  
 
And finally we detail necessary maintenance and security works; These were the construction of new septic chambers, extension of the electrical and lighting of the chapel and conditioning of the perimeter fence.
 
The objective of the interventions was to improve the entry, permanence and experience of visitors who come to the tourist attraction. These points are key to providing the visitor with a better experience by combining the historical-heritage with nature.

The statistical data shows that the objective is being met since the number of visitors has been increasing over the last few years.
 
Visitor Table
 
Year Number of Visitors
2019 11,280
2020 7,108
2021 9,785
2022 12,133
2023 (January to October) 11,021