Bolivia · Mineral / Architectural Craft
Construcción en bloques de sal
A masonry technique unique to the Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat, in which compacted salt is cut directly from the salar's surface into brick-like blocks and built into complete structures — walls, domed ceilings, furniture — bound with a mortar of ground salt and water. Pioneered in 1998 by Juan Quesada Valda for the Palacio de Sal, the world's first salt hotel, the technique requires annual reconstruction (the structure loses roughly 10% of its material each rainy season) and specific material substitutions, since metal corrodes rapidly in contact with salt while wood does not.
Risk level: Vulnerable · Not inscribed; the technique is contemporary rather than an inscribed intangible heritage practice
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