Iguazú | Excursion to San Ignacio Jesuit Missions
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To discover the history of this region, with its deep red earth and subtropical landscape, visit the Jesuit ruins of San Ignacio Miní. Declared as a historical national monument and cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO, San Ignacio Miní was founded by the missionaries of the "Compañía de Jesus" (Jesus's Society). These ruins show another, almost forgotten time. In 1609, a group of Spanish Jesuit missionaries began to establish settlements in the Paraná basin of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. Out of the 30 missions that the Spanish Jesuits built, 16 were, in present days, in Argentina. The first in the Misiones region was San Ignacio Guazú, which was founded in 1609. Many of the missions were burned down or were sacked and destroyed by the Paulistas and Bandeirantes, Brazilian slave traders who wanted to capture the Guaraníes. One of the only missions that remained intact until today in Argentina is the settlement at San Ignacio Miní, which was founded in 1632. San Ignacio was not the largest mission in the region, but it represents the architectural and organizational style that typified all the Jesuit missions in the area. It has a central square with religious, trade, educational, and residential buildings around the plaza. Due to restoration work, it is still possible to walk over the traced urban installations, where the central square, the church, the housings, the library, and the chapel can be recognized. An admission ticket is paid to enter the ruins, and another one is also paid for a show of lights and sounds in the dusk: the ruins light up and an audio makes the tourist feel part of the life, the work and the Indian Evangelisation in the mission. The emotive history around the Jesuits missions in this region became famous with the Hollywood movie "The Mission" with Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons. |
