In a place
apparently far from the inhabited world, the church of St. Joseph the Carpenter stands in the midst of nature, whose exterior architecture, made entirely of wood joined together only by means of assemblies, stands out for its beauty and simplicity. Designed by architect Edward Rojas, it is based on the church of Colo built by the Jesuit missionaries and recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Granda was in charge of the interior design for this project also designing and crafting the main and side altarpieces, the altar, the ambo, statuary, goldware and textiles, as well as making necessary adaptation to the sacristy. The altarpiece recreates the style of the Jesuit missions in the area, simplifying and integrating it with the wooden cladding of the walls. It consists of two stories and three sections, separated in the lower body by pairs of grooved and partially gilded pilasters. In the upper story, the sections are made up of three semicircular arches under mixtilinear gabled pediments, with simple geometrical decoration in the entablature, supported by pilasters on the sides and columns in the center, all made of reddish wood with gilded moldings. The central niche holds a sculpture in the round of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, flanked on the sides by St. John and St. Peter. Altarpieces in the side naves have pairs of niches in which full figure sculptures of St. Sebastian, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Teresa, and St. Alberto Hurtado are also housed.
