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LOCAL Wednesday 12 July 2023

Alto Vista chapel and its link to Aruba’s origins

According to Etnia Nativa, continued to guide the pa- Noord began to grow into only around six of these tank which the locals call
in the 18th century most rishioners in their prayers. a community till getting its houses remain. Tanki Cacique. In the past
of the inhabitants of Aruba According to the book, own Church. However re- South of the chapel in the this tank was closed. But
were indigenous who lived The History of Alto Vista by ligious festivals continued yard two graves can be mostly water was brought
on the north coast, one of R.H. Nooyen, it is not known to be celebrated at this sa- observed, there was the out from the Poz di Noord,
the largest communities when Domingo Antonio Sil- cred native place, with the cemetery which father a well dug in the sand.
lived in Alto Vista. vester came to Aruba from custom of arriving in pro- Pablo de Algemesi blessed. The chapel can be viewed
Venezuela. The elders be- cession to Alto Vista. It is not certain, but it is be- from basically any point in
As they were very religious, lieve Antonio was a Span- Two-hundred years after lieved that the two graves the north side, even from
they had a chief with the iard. In 1780, father Joseph the beautiful time of Alto belong to Antonio Silvester Paradera and Sero Plat.
name of Antonio Silvester Antonio de la Vegal called Vista, people can no lon- and Miguel Alvares, ac- All the historical remains
who guided them in the Bernardino Silvester, one of ger see much of the town cording to Nooyen. About around the chapel provide
Christian life and it was he Antonio’s sons with his wife of Alto Vista from 1750. With 50 meters near the chapel us with an idea on how the
who decided to build a Anna Cathalina Tromp, a lot of work they found there are still the markings old people of Alto Vista
stone chapel with a roof “neighbors and naturals of the old foundations of the of an old house, where used to live. Don’t miss the
of corn rods, which would the island Aruba” and thus Church of the Queen of Antonio and Bernardino opportunity to visit a place
serve as a place of prayer. they became natives. the Holiest Rosary to build Silvester would have lived. of historical significance
In 1750 it was blessed by Fa- a new chapel on the same About 200 meters from the with a window to Aruba’s
ther Algamesi who came At the end of the eighteen place. The entire surround- chapel there is a water past.q
from Coro-Venezuela and century many inhabitants ing area was empty and
appointed Domingo Anto- the island died as a result of desolated, making it hard
nio Silvester as the island’s the black fever epidemic to imagine that Alto Vista
first prosecutor in the name and since people believed was a town at all. A hun-
of the Spanish crown and that the Alto Vista area was dred years later, people
Rome. In 1752 the prosecu- the most infected, they be- can see the remains of
tion passed into the hands gan to build their homes around twenty houses,
of Antonio Silvester’s son- further south within the some made of stone and
in-law, Miguel Álvarez, who Noord area, so the town of others of clay. Nowadays,

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