Outings and excursions · Huinganco
Huinganco adds its Sacred Heart of Jesus to the Camino de la Fe
Photos: Neuquén Informa – Gobierno de la Provincia del Neuquén
A walking Christ with a shepherd's crook, facing the Andes and the Cordillera del Viento, is the new stop on Neuquén's religious tourism circuit.
On Saturday, October 10, 2026, the Sagrado Corazón de Jesús (Sacred Heart of Jesus), a work by architect and sculptor Alejandro Santana, was inaugurated in Huinganco, in northern Neuquén. It stands on high ground with a 360-degree view of the Andes and the Cordillera del Viento, and with it the town joins the Camino de la Fe (Way of Faith), the province's religious tourism circuit.
The work
It is not a Christ on the cross: it is a walking Christ carrying a shepherd's crook. It is meant to reflect Huinganco's identity and its history of herding, mining and forestry. The figure, over 7 meters tall, is made of stainless steel and laminated glass.
Behind it rises a cross more than 12 meters high, inspired by the Cross of San Damiano, clad in coihue wood and with a stained-glass window designed for the work, with images and colors from the history of Huinganco and the region. Santana and his team made it in his workshop in Junín de los Andes.
"This Christ has to symbolize unity," said mayor Luis Sepúlveda at the inauguration. For its author, it is "a risen Christ, telling us yes, everything is possible."
The artist
Alejandro Santana created the Vía Christi Sculpture Park in Junín de los Andes: 24 stations on the life of Jesus on Cerro de la Cruz, with a 52-meter Christ emerging from the hillside. He also made the kultrún-shaped monument to Ceferino Namuncurá in San Ignacio and the Stations of the Cross in the Bariloche cathedral.
The Camino de la Fe
It is a north-to-south route through western Neuquén linking rural chapels, historic parishes, shrines and religious monuments, from the Capilla Virgen de Lourdes in Ailinco to Villa La Angostura. In the north, besides Huinganco, it goes through Chos Malal, Andacollo, Las Ovejas and Varvarco. Further south are Junín de los Andes, the Provincial Capital of Religious Tourism, with the Nuestra Señora de las Nieves shrine and the Vía Christi, and San Ignacio, where the remains of Blessed Ceferino Namuncurá rest.
The provincial government announced that the whole circuit will be paved.
To round off the visit
Huinganco is known as "the Garden of Neuquén". It lies 5 km from Andacollo, in the Valle Encantado. In October, under the motto "Huinganco Florece", the Provincial Nursery shows its tulip plot (16,600 bulbs in 2026), with producers' and craft fairs, food and local music. The town also has the Museo del Árbol y la Madera (Tree and Wood Museum), and nearby, the Cañada Molina Protected Natural Area, with cordilleran cypresses over 1,200 years old.
Useful tip: In October you can combine it with the tulip bloom at the Provincial Nursery ("Huinganco Florece").
