Arani, Church of San Bartolomé, Nuestra Señora La Bella

Built in 1610 by Augustinian missionaries, the church has served for over four centuries as the spiritual anchor of Bolivia's Valle Alto. Its Virgen La Bella devotion traces to southern Spain but has become a mestizo emblem of Andean Catholic faith.

The Augustinian order established the Church of San Bartolomé in 1610, during the period of intensive colonial evangelization in the Cochabamba region. Arani — originally called Saqsayjarani by its Quechua-speaking inhabitants — occupied a strategic position on trade routes connecting Cochabamba to La Plata, Potosi, and the eastern lowlands. The church became the most important temple in the Catholic circuit of the Valle Alto.

The devotion to the Virgen La Bella arrived with the earliest Spanish settlers in the late sixteenth century. Its origins lie in Lepe, on the coast of southern Spain, where a wooden sculpture of the Virgin was discovered and elicited the cry, 'Oh, how beautiful! She is like the one in Heaven!' — giving the image its name. Tradition holds that the image was carried from Spain to Arani, though no written documents confirm this, and the Virgin's distinctly indigenous features have led some to wonder whether she was crafted or modified by local hands.

What is beyond dispute is the devotion's power. Over four centuries, La Bella became the patroness of the entire Valle Alto of Cochabamba, drawing pilgrims from across Bolivia and beyond. The church was declared a National Monument and Colonial Heritage of Cochabamba in 1945. In August 2024, Bolivia's Ministry of Cultures awarded the temple the Blue Emblem — a designation under the 1954 Hague Convention recognizing cultural property deserving protection in times of conflict.