Uruguay celebrates addition of avant-garde church to UNESCO list

Estacion Atlantida, Uruguay, Jul 31 (EFE).- Uruguayans gathered here Saturday in front of the Church of Christ the Worker and Our Lady of Lourdes to celebrate its designation as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Officials hailed UNESCO’s decision to honor the work of architect and engineer Eladio Dieste (1917-2000).

“We are celebrating that this week the list of assets considered part of humanity’s global heritage rescued Eladio Dieste. There is an act of justice in this recognition,” Education and Culture Minister Pablo da Silveira said.

Dieste created buildings that “added beauty to the natural environment,” the minister said in front of the church in Estacion Atlantida, 45 km (28 mi) from Montevideo.

Da Silveira took the opportunity to thank all of those who helped secure the heritage designation for the church, noting that the campaign spanned three different presidential administrations of different parties.

“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,” UNESCO said. EFE scr/dr