Ruins of São Miguel das Missões

Ruins of São Miguel das Missões
UNESCO World Heritage site
Location São Miguel das Missões, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Part of Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis: San Ignacio Mini, Santa Ana, Nuestra Señora de Loreto and Santa Maria Mayor (Argentina), Ruins of Sao Miguel das Missoes (Brazil)
Criteria Cultural: (iv)
Reference 275bis-001
Inscription 1983 (7th Session)
Extensions 1984
Coordinates 28°32′36″S 54°15′57″W / 28.54333°S 54.26583°W / -28.54333; -54.26583Coordinates: 28°32′36″S 54°15′57″W / 28.54333°S 54.26583°W / -28.54333; -54.26583
Location of Ruins of São Miguel das Missões in Brazil

The Ruins of São Miguel das Missões (Portuguese pronunciation: [sɐ̃w̃ miˈɡɛw dɐz miˈsõȷ̃s]; Portuguese for St. Michael of the Missions, also known as São Miguel Arcanjo, and by its former Spanish name Misión de San Miguel Arcángel) is a Unesco World Heritage site located in the municipality of São Miguel das Missões, in the northwestern region of Rio Grande do Sul state, in southern Brazil.

History

The São Miguel das Missões mission was built between 1735 to around 1745 as Mission San Miguel Arcángel. São Miguel das Missões was one of the many Spanish Colonial Jesuit Reductions in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia. Spanish Jesuit missionaries founded the mission for Crown mandated Indian Reductions (Christian converting) of the Guaraní Indians; and to protect the natives from the Portuguese slave traders known as the Bandeirantes.

The Treaty of Madrid in 1750 transferred sovereignty over the area from Spain to Portugal. The Spanish Jesuit missions were ordered to move to the retained Spanish territory west of the Uruguay River. The Guaraní tribes refused to comply with the order to relocate from their homelands, now deemed in Portuguese "territory." This led to the Guarani War. A joint Portuguese-Spanish army attacked and defeated the Guaraní, and the mission was closed.

The cathedral (Catedral Angelopolitana), built in the 1920s in nearby Santo Ângelo city, is modeled after that at the São Miguel das Missões reduction.

World Heritage Site

Old church bell and native art in the Missions Museum, São Miguel das Missões.

The Spanish Colonial architecture of the ruins and the archeological site of São Miguel das Missões has been a protected part of the UNESCO Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis World Heritage Site, since 1984.[1] The protected area covers 1,229.8 square kilometres (474.8 sq mi). A history museum is adjacent.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Practical Instruction to Order One's Life According to Saintly Precepts: Offered by Father Antonio Garriga of the Society of Jesus. As a Brief Memorial and Memento of the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society". World Digital Library. Retrieved 18 April 2013.

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