**6. Discussion**

Art has always played an important role in the evangelization and dissemination of different religions' faith throughout history. In the Christian religion, sacred art played a fundamental role in the transmission of biblical messages and the exaltation of the figure of Jesus Christ and the saints (Godinho 2018).

One of the tasks of Spanish conquistadors and religious orders in America was the evangelization of native populations and the transmission of Christian customs through models of holiness and civilized behaviour. Most of the population was more familiar with visual language than writing, so the image was the most commonly used method for disseminating the Catholic faith.

In indigenous cultures, icons were the means of communication between divinity and humanity. Therefore, expressing abstract realities, such as the Christian dogma, was easier through signs (Martínez 2012).

For both Christian and indigenous cultures alike art was a divine gift. The artist was either a messenger of the gods or their interpreter or servant. Art was made by and for religion, so it was not difficult to reinterpret ancestral nature-based cults for Christian worship (Monreal y Tejada 2000).

To impress the viewer, Catholic art used Mannerist and baroque features. Both trends stood out for emphasizing emotional and spectacular content through artificial colours and shapes since the purpose was not to imitate nature, but to highlight the message that was transmitted (Uribe 1962).

In this way, European missionaries and settlers could effectively convey their religious message to indigenous peoples, using accessible visual language familiar to them. This art also served as a propaganda tool for the Catholic Church and the Spanish crown, which sought to consolidate their power and influence in the region.

Mestizo baroque art also has unique characteristics, such as the presence of indigenous elements along with Christian religious imagery. This art is also known for the exaggerated use of ornaments, vibrant colours, and meticulous details.

Today, it remains an important cultural legacy in Bolivia, and many of the most impressive examples can be found in churches and museums in cities such as La Paz, Sucre, and Potosí (Bonet Correa 2001; Gisbert 1991; Simoni 2003). Sacred art, including altarpieces, was an important tool of evangelization during the colonial period in Latin America, and the church of San Francisco of La Paz was no exception.

The altarpieces of the church of San Francisco de la Paz, in Bolivia, are outstanding examples of colonial sacred art—they were used, as mentioned, as tools for evangelization during the colonial period in Latin America. Through their rich ornamentation and symbolism, the altarpieces helped teach the principles of Christianity to the indigenous population of the region.

The altarpieces of the church of San Francisco, of superb workmanship, are the best in the city of La Paz: with an exuberant carving, seraphim everywhere, and Solomonic columns with abundant vines and branches of small size. The paintings of Leonardo Flores, the mirrors, the sculptures of round bulk, the trilobed niches, the flowers, and the gilding make a vibrant ensemble in a sober environment, where transcendence is especially present.

#### **7. Conclusions**

In short, the whole Church has been designed to communicate. And, although the building is of great constructive sobriety, with walls, vaults, and a stone dome, there is a big contrast with the great ornamental display of the interior, resulting in a space that is the product of syncretism, the fusion of two cultures. All this boasts of interior decoration which speaks of the evangelizing desire of the friars, which led them to spare nothing for God, along with the idea that the temple should be attractive for the conversion of the peoples, thus making this temple one of the most important in Latin America.

The peculiarity of the style of San Francisco resides in the importance of its decoration, which impacts the perception of the interior space; where the formal experience of anthropomorphic motifs and other naturalistic designs accumulate, symbolism expands from the exterior to the interior. This is a novel way of working with form and content, as Marco Dorta says, with a "dense tapestry that completely covers the walls and overflows from the sides" (Gutiérrez 2005, p. 167), and with an arsenal of images accumulating in the retina of the indigenous people, which metamorphosed the whole into different works of

art. Themes of vegetable, animal, and religious worlds, typical of the American universe, are added to European motifs; the parts are integrated into a whole that subordinates them and gives them coherence, thus unifying not only two cultures, but two ways of thinking.

**Author Contributions:** This study is a joint work of the authors. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research was supported by the sixth call for "Small projects and project ideas" from the Universidad Católica Boliviana San Pablo.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** Not applicable.

**Acknowledgments:** To the Bolivian Catholic University "San Pablo" and to CICOP (Bolivia).

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
