Back in 2011 I posted about an unusual sculpture found in Patagonia (see post here) that included a photograph of a sculpture that was supposedly found in a Museum in Comodoro Rivadavia and, according to some online sources, is now lost. The sculpture is shown below:
I found new information today (online here). It includes a transcription of a letter sent to the Museo Regional de Comodoro Rivadavia, which was formed with objects collected by Antonio Garcés, who had been a professor in the area. In the letter, the author inquires if they have the sculpture (pictured above) and if so, where did it come from.
The Museum's Director, Ms. Matilde Diez replied on August 14, 1999, as follows:
"... you are requesting information about a sculpture that was gifted to prof. Garcés by the Reverend Parrochial Priest, Presbyter José Luís Méndez, who was in Río Gallegos. I can tell you that this piece was found in the land of the "Alquintas" establishment.
You should know that it was here in the museum for some time, and the professor Garcés asked me to paint it, because I worked as a technical draftperson. I recognized my drawing immedietely, adn that is why I would like to know how you obtained it. As he found it very similar to the "Lady of Elche", prof. Garcés took it with all the drawings and the sulpture.
I would also like to knwo where the piece is, if it is in some museum or in the hands of some researcher, or his younger daughter may have it, Gloria Garcés, because I was in Buenos Aires in April, when I exhibited by paintings in the House of Chubut, but the brothers do not know her address. I send you a copy of my drawing in the original size, wth the exact size. I accompany the text on its back."
Ms. Diez (1927-2020) and Garcés(*) are both real, they existed, and the museum is still operating in Comodoro Rivadavia, Chubut. Father Méndez was a priest in Tierra del Fuego and in Río Gallegos in the 1940s. The "Alquintas" is actually a vast sheep ranch 85 km west (52 mi.) of Río Gallegos, see map, and whose real name is "Alquinta". It covers 50,000 ha and has 15,000 sheep (37,000 acres).
There was an ancient hotel in the tiny town of Tres Lagos (map), also in Santa Cruz, with the same name "Alquinta". Since Ms. Diez says "establecimiento" meaning "establishment", the word means the same in Spanish and English... we don't know if it was a ranch or a hotel!
The hotel opened in 1918, it is still standing, and was declared a Historic Provincial Site. It was owned and ran by Don Emilio Reyes Alquinta.
Tres Lagos is on the Sheuen or Chalia River, close to three lakes (hence its name): San Martín, Argentino, and Viedma. It is located on Argentina's Ruta 40 and was visited by the Spaniards in 1782, who marched west from the town of Floridablanca that they had established in San Julian (it only lasted from 1780 to 1784). Tres Lagos was founded with the hotel in 1918.
Antonio Viedma, explored the region in 1782 when he went west towards the Andes from Sanb Julián along the river and reported the "nailed" stone: "Day November 18
... at 6 in the evening, with our horses broken, we reached the shore of the same creek [Chalia] at a place the indians call
quesanexes, where we camped... There is a lonely, sheer and tall rock here, like a tower, that is separated some 50 varas [40 m - 120 ft.] from the hill that it is part of. On its upper side this stone is thicker than on its foot, and has crumbled naturally due to the storms."
Local historian Mario Echeverría Baleta says that the Tehuelche natives used to meet here once a year to pray to their gods. The stone was painted, but the paint has wahsed away over the centuries. He calls it "Kesaneses" which means "where your implore".
Viedma discovered the lake that bears his name, he turned around and returned to Floridablanca. Lake San Martin and Lake Argentino were discovered one century later.
The sculpture is completrely different from the crude stone productions of the Patagonian natives. It looks European, the person depicted appears to be Caucasian. Who is this woman?
The most frequently depicted woman in Christendom in Catholic Europe is Mary, the mother of Jesus. Could the Lady of Elche of Patagonia be a remain from the church of Floridablanca? Were there stone statues of the Virgin Mary there?
We know there was a chapel in Floridablanca (source), it was located inside the fortified enclave, which protected the houses of the settlers, the chaplain's house, barracks, etc.
It could also have come from the church at the failed settlement of Rey Don Felipe (Port Famine) on the Strait of Magellan, close to modern Punta Arenas. All its residents perished due to hunger and exposure (1584-87). Read more.
In 1584, Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa established chapels in Port Famine (known as Rey Don Felipe), the church of "La Candelaria" and "La Anunciación" in the town of Nombre de Jesús, both were located on the Strait.
The natives could have rescued the image of the Virgin Mary from one of these towns. In fact, we know that in the case of the Nahuel Huapi mission, close to Bariloche, the natives killed the missionaries, and burned the curch, but saved the effigy of Mary. Father Mascardi established a mission on Lake Nahuel Huapi in 1672, and he placed the image of the Virgin sent to him by the Viceroy of Perú, Lemos. She was named the "Lady of the Poyas and Puelches". When the natives burned the Mission down for good in 1717, they looted it, and only respected the virgin which they placed on the shore of the lake, removed its clothing, and covered it with horse hides. The image was rescued in 1718, taken back to Chiloé, and it can still be seen.
(*) Antonio Garcés, was born in Rosario, Argentina. He was a teacher in La Pampa, Rio Negro, Neuquén, Chubut, and Santa Cruz. An amateur archaeologist in 1932 he visited the Cueva de las Manos, and over a period of 30 years, gathered a vast collection that he donated (7,000 pieces) to the local museum that now bears his name.
Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2025 by Austin Whittall ©
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