Jesuits Ruins of San Ignacio

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Part 2 of 3 of my adventure in the provinces of Misiones and Corrientes : Jesuits Ruins of San Ignacio

After our visit of Iguazu Park and its impressive waterfalls, we took an early morning bus to the town of San Ignacio where we would visit the Jesuits ruins of San Ignacio (San Ignacio Mini), one of the several sites remaining in this part of Argentina. Despite the fact that this particular site was originally one of the smallest Jesuit colonies, it is nonetheless today the best preserved ruins. The rich history of those ruins goes beyond religion, politics, economics…it symbolizes one of the decisive moments in the story of humanity.

The distance between Iguazu and San Ignacio is approximately 200 kilometres and we therefore estimated to effectuate a three-hour bus ride between these two villages. However, we once again experienced the typical “South American milk run” and ended up spending six hours in a hot overcrowded bus which had to stop approximately 20 times in addition to the 30 official stops mentioned on our tickets…An agonizing trip during which we entered every small village or stopped on the highway to pick up friends and family. I have to admit that despite the length and conditions of this trip, it was an opportunity to see the retreated region of Argentina and get an idea of the real life of its inhabitants.

Arriving at in San Ignacio, we joined a guided visit of the impressive ruins. Having learned about the history and role of the Jesuits in the New World, it was astonishing to actually touch the rocks of those walls with my own hands…and hear the story of these ruins from a guarani guide.

For those interested in the history behind these particular ruins, the latter exemplifies the many Jesuits missions that have been established in the New World by the Europeans. It is important to mention that despite the original missionary zeal of the Jesuits, the conversion of indigenous was the main method to acquire territory on the American continent: the papal bulls consisted of a right to acquire a territory if you converted its inhabitants. No wonder why they were so zealous and persistent in the conversion of these “lost souls” who worshipped the devil…The Jesuits were therefore sent as a response to the earlier success of other similar missions.

After the official visit, we discussed with our guarani guide and asked him several questions. According to him, Jesuits missions were considered as a refuge for guaranis who were at that time persecuted by the Europeans who enslaved them to work on their plantations. In addition, within these missions, the guarani language was used. Furthermore, the missions became one of the most productive and efficient businesses in terms of plantations and were considered as competitive threat to other plantations. Not surprisingly, conflicts arose quickly between the missions and the rich owners of plantations as the Jesuits were taking away the “free labour” from the rich owners. After persistent conflicts, the Jesuits were expelled. Should you want to get an idea of the life in these colonies, I recommend the movie “The Mission” filmed in the late 1980s which was partly filmed in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia.

Next stop, the wetlands of Carlos Pelligrini…

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Photos

San Ignacio Architecture
The architecture of the mission was quite impressive...a European style in the middle of jungle...

Guaranis Cementery
This area in the mission was reserved for the guaranis as the missionaries were buried in a different cementery

Comments

[Annette]

Hello
Hello... your words and photographs are wonderful. I hope you are not studying too hard. I can hardly wait to see you both. Annette xo

[Marie-Eve]

Wow
Wow, ca a l'air vraiment lcool es endroits que vous visitez!!! Ca donne aussi beaucoup envie de venir visiter l'Argentine. Embrasse Jason de ma part et bonne chance avec tous tes projets de fin de session. Amusez-vous bien avec la famille dans le Temps des Fetes.