Remains of the entrance to the church.

San Ignacio Miní was one of the many missions founded in 1632 by the Jesuits in the Americas during the Spanish colonial period. Image File history File links Sanignacio010. ... Image File history File links Sanignacio010. ... Since the Lausanne Congress of 1974, a widely-accepted definition of a Christian mission has been to form a viable indigenous church-planting movement. ... The Society of Jesus (Societas Iesu/Jesu (S.J.) in Latin) is a Christian religious order of the Roman Catholic Church in direct service to the Pope. ... Map of America by Jonghe, c. ... Spanish conquest and colonization of the Americas began with the arrival in America of Christopher Columbus in 1492. ...

In terms of preservation, including the architectural and sculptural details that typify the style known as "Guaraní baroque", San Ignacio Miní may be the most outstanding surviving example of the 30 missions built by the Jesuits in a territory that now comprises parts of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. It is also a tourist favorite for its accessibility, surrounded as it is by the present-day village of San Ignacio in the province of Misiones, Argentina. Guarani was one of the most important tribal groups of South America, having the former home territory chiefly between the Uruguay and lower Paraguay Rivers, in what is now Paraguay and the Provinces of Corrientes and Entre Rios of Argentina. ... Adoration, by Peter Paul Rubens: dynamic figures spiral down around a void: draperies blow: a whirl of movement lit in a shaft of light, rendered in a free bravura handling of paint In arts, the Baroque (or baroque) is both a period and the style that dominated it. ... The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu), commonly known as the Jesuits, is a Roman Catholic religious order. ... Misiones is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamia region. ...

Rediscovered in 1897, San Ignacio gained some notoriety after poet Leopoldo Lugones led an expedition to the area in 1903, but restoration work had to wait until the 1940s. Parts of the ruins are still precarious, supported by sore-thumb scaffolding that obscures the essential harmony of the complex but does not affect individual features. Leopoldo Lugones (13 June 1874 - 1938) was an Argentine writer and journalist. ...

San Ignacio's centerpiece was Italian architect Juan Brasanelli's monumental church, 74 meters long and 24 meters wide, with red sandstone walls two meters wide and ceramic-tile floors. Overlooking the settlement's plaza, decorated by Guaraní artisans, it is arguably the finest remaining structure of its kind; the adjacent compound included a kitchen, dining room, classrooms, and workshops. The priests' quarters and the cemetery were also here, while more than 200 Guaraní residences — whose numbers reached 4,000 at the mission's zenith in 1733 — surrounded the plaza. Guarani was one of the most important tribal groups of South America, having the former home territory chiefly between the Uruguay and lower Paraguay Rivers, in what is now Paraguay and the Provinces of Corrientes and Entre Rios of Argentina. ...

The complex of the ruins currently holds the Museo Jesuítico de San Ignacio Miní museum. Since 1984 it has been listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. World Heritage Site #86: Memphis and its Necropolis, including the Pyramids of Giza (Egypt). ... UNESCO logo The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, commonly known as UNESCO, is a specialized agency of the United Nations system established in 1945. ...

Other Jesuit missions' ruins in the Misiones Province are Reducción de Santa Ana, Santa María La Mayor, and Nuestra Señora de Loreto.

External links

• Jesuit Missions in South America
• San Ignacion Ruins (Spanish)
• Reducciones in Misiones (Spanish)

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