This article analises how and why an image of San Sebastian had to be imported from Chile and settled in a church of north Neuquén (Argentina). This fact will allow us to understand how the emergence of the nation-state in Argentina was perceived, signified and lived by the frontier's inhabitants. Particulary, it will throw some light on the relations between religion and nationalism and on the invisivility/visibility of the relations across the Andean mountains.
State; Nation; Frontier; Saints; Smuggling