# Roofing in Uruguay

> Uruguayan roofing: Portuguese-Spanish colonial tile in Colonia del Sacramento, and modern concrete, metal sheet and tile in a temperate, low-seismicity land.

- URL: https://roof.wiki/roofing-in-uruguay/
- Topic: Roofing Around the World
- Also known as: Uruguayan roofing
- Regions: Latin America
- First published: 2026-11-02 · Last reviewed: 2026-11-02
- Cite as: "Roofing in Uruguay." roof.wiki. https://roof.wiki/roofing-in-uruguay/

## Key facts

- **Colonial roofs:** Clay tile on stone walls (Colonia del Sacramento)
- **Founded:** Colonia, by the Portuguese, 1680
- **Seismicity:** Low
- **Heritage:** Colonia del Sacramento, UNESCO 1995

Uruguay has a temperate, humid climate and very little earthquake risk. Its best-known historic roofs are the tiled colonial houses of Colonia del Sacramento, where Portuguese and Spanish traditions meet.

## Climate and hazards

- **Rain and wind** typical of a temperate coastal climate.
- **Low seismicity**: a 2012 review of Latin American building codes excluded Uruguay as a low-seismicity country.

## Roofing history

**Colonial.** Colonia del Sacramento was founded by the Portuguese in 1680 on the north shore of the Río de la Plata, opposite Buenos Aires, and UNESCO describes buildings that fuse the two traditions: mostly modest single-storey houses, with civil and religious buildings that combine long stone walls, timber roof structures and tiled roofs. The historic quarter was inscribed by UNESCO in 1995. In the Río de la Plata region, Spanish tiles generally have a parabolic profile and Portuguese tiles a semicircular one.

**19th century.** Immigrant artisans arriving in the second half of the 19th century added their own building styles to Colonia and other towns.

**Industrial era.** The Fray Bentos Cultural-Industrial Landscape, a former meat-processing complex, was inscribed by UNESCO in 2015.

## Traditional and vernacular roofs

- **Teja** roofs on single-storey colonial houses with stone walls.

## Roofing today

Concrete slabs, metal sheet and clay or concrete tile are all in use.

## Notable roofs

- **Historic Quarter of Colonia del Sacramento** (UNESCO 1995): stone houses with tiled roofs.
- **Fray Bentos Cultural-Industrial Landscape** (UNESCO 2015).

## Local roofing terms

- *Teja*: clay tile.
- *Chapa*: metal roofing sheet (Río de la Plata usage).

## Sources

1. Historic Quarter of the City of Colonia del Sacramento — UNESCO World Heritage Centre. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/747
2. List of World Heritage Sites in South America — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Heritage_Sites_in_South_America
3. Building codes and relative seismic vulnerability in Latin American countries (15WCEE) — 15th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering. https://www.iitk.ac.in/nicee/wcee/article/WCEE2012_4534.pdf
4. Arqueología en las Misiones Jesuitas de Guaraníes: las tejas decoradas de la iglesia de Santa Ana — Instituto de Arte Americano, FADU-UBA. https://cau.iaa.fadu.uba.ar/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Roca_Tejas-decoradas_SantaAna.pdf