Sewell: Chile's UNESCO Copper Town in the Andes

From the late 1960s the company moved families down to Rancagua, once a road made it possible to commute up to the mine instead of living beside it. By the early 1980s the town had largely emptied and part of it had been demolished. The core that survived is what UNESCO now protects.

Barton Sewell, president of the Braden Copper Company, the American firm that founded the camp to work the El Teniente mine. The town took his name in his honour after his death in 1915.

Because there was never room for streets. The town was built on a slope too steep for vehicles, so its homes, hospital, school and club were linked by a central staircase and a web of walkways and smaller stairs. Everything was moved on foot, which is still how you see it today.

The copper mine Sewell was built to serve, the largest underground copper mine in the world, now run by the state company Codelco. It is still working, which is one reason access to Sewell is controlled and visits run only as organised tours.