An amazing legacy of Jesuit missionaries in Paraguay (part 2 - 26 photos)

Almost 2 weeks ago I told you about a day trip from Argentina to Paraguay's Jesuit ruins. On the same trip my sister and I visited both Misión Jesuítica de la Santisma Trinidad and Jesús de Tavarangue. In my previous post we were visiting Trinidad. Now we have continued to Jesús de Tavarangue. Both are located with only 12 kilimoters between them. To give new readers a short introduction: In the 17th and 18th century there was a certain religious activity going on in the area around the Paraná River where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet. Jesuit missionaries from Spain introduced Christianity to the Guarani people living in this area. The Jesuits not only exercised missionary activity. They also educated, protected and built settlements to the indigenous population. This mission became a UNESCO World Hertage site in 1993.

THE SUCCES OF THE JESUITS
The Jesuits did come to South America to do missionary work first and foremost. They did that with great success, building 30 missions. They did not enslave the Guarani population. Instead they tought them skills, established schools and tought them agriculture. They were self-sufficient in many ways. The Jesuit missons might have saved the Guarani population on a whole. Otherwise they would probably have suffered due to the slave trade. Living in one of these “reducciones” gave the Guaranis a good life.

The “guide” as it looked on my phone (screenshot)

JESÚS DE TAVARANGUE
The ruins of Jesus de Tarvaranque are just as impressive as the ruins of Trinidad. In this post I have chosen to focus mostly on the church, and the buildings that lie directly next to it. Many of the others are not in such good condition. Also, this mission is built on the same principle as the previous one: A large plaza, workshops, Guarani houses, church etc. Just like in Trinidad, I had to download an app and scan the QR codes to listen to an English speaking guide. I got the same information written, so I took screenshots to be able to have the information for later.

This mission was founded in 1685, shortly after Trinidad. It has not allways been locacted at the current location. It has migrated several times before it ended up here in 1758. For that reason it has also been called “the Pilgrim Town”.

The homes of the Guaraní families

We start our tour at the Plaza. Just like the other Jesuit missions, the plaza was used for ceremonies like weddeings, parades, fairs etc. There isn't much left of the houses. Only the bases. Each of the families who had a house, also had their own garden.

We then mooved on to the workshops and the school. The school which is adjacent to the priest's residence had 6 classrooms and cloister with a wall around it. In the priest's residence there is used to be a cistern, connected to drainage channels that lead to the garden for irrigation. From here we continued to the main church. The largest structure in the whole place.

The Church. This is the High Alter. There are two pilasters here with inscriptions of San Francisco de Asis and Santo Domingo de Guzmán.

The church has two pulpits confronted. They did so, because then they could have debates here. The two debaters would then be opposite each other. What did the debate about? Might have been about what is good and what is evil. When they held mases it was usually in Latin, but they did translate into Guarani.

Inside there are two rows of pillars in the shape of a Greek cross. They divide the building into three naves and were probably also in use for supporting the roof. The size of the church is 70x24 meters and just as impressive in size as the church in Trinidad. To the east side of it, the indigenous cemetery is located, which was divided into sections for women, men, girls and boys.

The church has three entrances through arches in the Moorish style. This because the architects came from Spain. On both sides of the main entrance there are two niches that contains insignia with the papal tiara and the keys of St. Peter representing the Catholic Church. The tiara with the sword represents the Spanish Crown. The two powers that governed the Jesuits.

THE MISSONS CAME TO AN END
This happened when the Spanish King forced the Jesuits to leave all of their territories. The missions were abandoned and the buildings left to decay. The fact that the Jesuits were so successful may have been one of the reasons why they were expelled from both Spanish and Portuguese areas. These settlements were unable to preserve their independence without the Jesuit priests, but they have managed to keep much of their traditions.

My sister My sister took this photo of me

Then it was time to get back to San Ignacio. The driver's plan was to take the ferry across the Paraná River on the return trip, instead of driving via Posadas. When we arrived at the ferry berth, it turned out that there was a kilometer long queue of cars. The driver contacted his company and arranged it so that we could walk down to the ferry, cross the river and then another driver would meet us on the other side. After being handed a life jacket and sitting down for only 10 minutes or so, we were back in Argentina. It had been a very hot day, so a cold beer at our small hotel Toscana was incredibly good.

To spent a whole day, crossing borders, to see these architectural gems built by Spanish missionaries, was a day well spent. There are Jesuit ruins in San Ignacio, and a couple of others close by. But the ruins in Paraguay are more intact. When we learned about that, we chose this daytrip in stead. I can only recommend doing that.