Landmark South America
Jesuit Missions of the Guaraní
The Jesuit Missions of the Guaraní are old stone ruins in Brazil and Argentina. Long ago they were towns, and now people visit their tall stone walls!
The Jesuit Missions of the Guaraní are the ruins of five mission towns, one in Brazil and four in Argentina. They were built in the 17th and 18th centuries on lands where Guaraní communities lived. The best-kept church ruin is at São Miguel Arcanjo in Brazil, and the site joined the World Heritage List in 1983, with its boundaries changed in 1984.
This serial World Heritage Site joins the ruins of São Miguel Arcanjo in Brazil with San Ignacio Miní, Santa Ana, Nuestra Señora de Loreto and Santa María la Mayor in Argentina: remains of mission settlements set up by the Jesuits in the 17th and 18th centuries on lands originally occupied by Guaraní communities. UNESCO inscribed it in 1983 under criterion (iv).
Photo: Goldemberg Fonseca de Almeida from Dourados - MS, Brazil, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover the Guaraní missions
These old stone ruins are in Brazil and Argentina.
Long ago, each one was a town with a church, homes and workshops.
The World Heritage Site has five mission ruins. São Miguel Arcanjo is in Brazil, and San Ignacio Miní, Santa Ana, Nuestra Señora de Loreto and Santa María la Mayor are in the province of Misiones in Argentina.
UNESCO says they lie at the heart of a tropical forest, and each has its own layout and its own state of repair.
UNESCO describes the five components as the impressive remains of Jesuit mission settlements established in the 17th and 18th centuries on lands originally occupied by Guaraní communities. The church ruins at São Miguel Arcanjo are the most intact and complete of the period's listed sites, and the four Argentine missions, in southern Misiones province, show a systematic, organized occupation of the land.
UNESCO gives the components' total area as 265.78 hectares in its description and 265.09 hectares in its property data.
- Where
- Brazil and Argentina
- Mission ruins in the site
- 5
- Built
- 17th and 18th centuries
- World Heritage Site
- 1983
Thirty towns
Long ago there were 30 of these towns.
They had farms and ranches, and paths and rivers joined them together.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, members of the Society of Jesus, known as the Jesuits, set up mission towns on lands where Guaraní communities lived. UNESCO says there were 30 settlements, called reducciones.
They had ranches and mate plantations, linked by trails and waterways across the Uruguay River and its tributaries. By the middle of the 1700s, the towns had begun to empty.
UNESCO says a singular system of spatial, economic, social and cultural relations emerged in 30 settlements, the reducciones, with ranches, mate plantations and networks of trails and waterways extending across the Uruguay River and its tributaries. It calls the missions a testament to the cultural relations between the region's Indigenous peoples, mostly Guaraní, and the European Jesuits.
The Museu das Missões notes that the reducciones began to be emptied by the middle of the 18th century.
Built around a square
Each town had a big square in the middle.
The church stood on one side, and homes stood on the other sides.
Each mission was planned around a central square. On one side stood a church with a residence and a school; the other three sides held buildings mainly for the local Indigenous people.
At São Miguel, the church was built in a different way from other mission buildings of its time: it has load-bearing stone walls instead of a wooden frame.
UNESCO says the components keep two intersecting compositions: a European-style complex of main church, residence and school, and buildings along the other three sides of the central square erected primarily for the local Indigenous people.
Brazil's development bank BNDES says São Miguel's church was built differently from other mission buildings of the period, using load-bearing stone walls in place of wooden structures. Foundations of the school, workshops and homes, the square, the vegetable garden and the orchard can still be seen.
What remains
At São Miguel, the front of the old church still stands, with its tall tower.
Nearby, a museum keeps carved wooden pieces from the missions.
At São Miguel Arcanjo, the main body of the church survives with its bell tower, along with parts of other buildings, the foundations of homes, the square, the vegetable garden and old storm drains.
The architect Lucio Costa designed the Museu das Missões beside the ruins in 1940. It opened in August 1941 to keep carved and painted wooden sculptures and pieces of buildings from the missions.
At São Miguel Arcanjo, UNESCO lists the main body of the church with its belfry, portions of the residence, the foundations of the Indigenous dwellings, the square, the vegetable garden and the storm drains. Elsewhere, fragments of walls of churches, homes, workshops and orchards survive.
Lucio Costa designed the Museu das Missões in 1940 as a simple open shelter for polychrome wooden sculpture and architectural fragments; it opened in August 1941 and was later closed in with glass panels he also proposed.
- Brazil site
- São Miguel Arcanjo
- Argentina sites
- 4, in Misiones province
- Area
- about 265 ha (UNESCO: 265.78 and 265.09)
- Museu das Missões opened
- August 1941
The church at São Miguel
This photo shows the old church at São Miguel, made of reddish stone.
There is a tall tower on the left and soft green grass in front.
Goldemberg Fonseca de Almeida took this photo of the church ruins at São Miguel das Missões, Brazil, on 9 June 2005. The reddish stone shines in the sun. You can see the bell tower on the left, the tall front with a big empty window, round columns, doorways and the lawn in front.
Brazil listed the site as national heritage in 1938, and in 2009 it became part of the Missões National Historic Park.
The photo (Goldemberg Fonseca de Almeida, 9 June 2005) shows the church front at São Miguel Arcanjo: the bell tower at the left, the tall central front with an open window, columns and doorways, a ruined side wall at the right and the lawn in front.
IPHAN listed São Miguel in 1938; Argentina declared San Ignacio a National Historic Monument in 1943, Santa María in 1945, and Santa Ana and Loreto in 1983. A sound-and-light show has been held at the ruins since 1978, and the museum is free to visit.
Amazing facts
-
The church at São Miguel has stone walls, not wooden ones!
Unlike other mission buildings of its time, São Miguel's church was built with load-bearing stone walls instead of a wooden frame.
BNDES notes that São Miguel's church used load-bearing stone walls in place of the wooden structures of other mission buildings of the time.
-
The ruins light up at night in a show with sounds and lights!
A sound-and-light show has been held at the São Miguel ruins since 1978.
The sound-and-light show at São Miguel Arcanjo, held since 1978, lasts 48 minutes.
-
The missions had ranches and fields of mate, a plant used for a drink!
The 30 mission settlements had ranches and mate plantations, linked by trails and rivers.
The reducciones included ranches, mate plantations and networks of trails and waterways across the Uruguay River and its tributaries.
Words to know
- mission
- a settlement set up by a religious group in a new land
- ruins
- what is left of buildings after they have fallen down
- Guaraní
- an Indigenous people of South America
- mate
- a South American plant whose leaves are used to make a drink
- load-bearing wall
- a wall that holds up the weight of the building above it
- bell tower
- a tower that holds bells
Discovery challenge
-
In which two countries are these ruins?
In which two countries are the five mission ruins?
The five components of this serial site lie in which two countries?
- Brazil and Argentina
- Spain and Portugal
- Chile and Peru
Show the answer
Brazil and Argentina
Brazil and Argentina!
Brazil (one) and Argentina (four).
Brazil (São Miguel Arcanjo) and Argentina (four missions in Misiones).
-
How many mission ruins are in this World Heritage Site?
How many mission ruins make up the World Heritage Site?
How many components make up the Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis?
- 5
- 30
- 2
Show the answer
5
Five!
Five, out of 30 settlements.
Five, of the 30 reducciones.
-
What are the walls of the church at São Miguel made of?
What did builders use for the load-bearing walls of São Miguel's church?
Unlike other mission buildings of its time, São Miguel's church used load-bearing walls of what?
- Stone
- Wood
- Ice
Show the answer
Stone
Stone!
Stone, instead of a wooden frame.
Stone, in place of wooden structures.
-
Which river ran through the missions' lands?
Trails and waterways linked the missions across which river and its tributaries?
Across which river and its tributaries did the reducciones' trails and waterways extend?
- The Uruguay River
- The Nile
- The Danube
Show the answer
The Uruguay River
The Uruguay River!
The Uruguay River.
The Uruguay River.
-
When did the missions become World Heritage?
In which year were the missions added to the World Heritage List?
In which year was the property inscribed under criterion (iv)?
- 1983
- 2009
- 1750
Show the answer
1983
In 1983!
In 1983.
1983; the boundaries were modified in 1984.
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Describe how a mission town was laid out around a central square.
- Explain why stone buildings may last longer than wooden ones.
- Find the mission sites on a map of Brazil and Argentina.
Recommended ages: 4 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why might towns be planned around a big central square?
- What can archaeologists learn from the foundations of houses?
- Why do you think people protect ruins instead of rebuilding them?
Try at home or in class
- Draw a plan of a town around a square: put one big building on one side and rows of homes on the other three.
- Build two small towers, one from wooden blocks and one from stones or bricks, and compare how sturdy they are.
Key vocabulary: mission, ruins, Guaraní, mate, load-bearing wall, bell tower
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis (World Heritage List) , UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Ruínas de São Miguel Arcanjo , BNDES (Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social)
- Histórico , Museu das Missões (IBRAM)
- Planeje sua visita , Museu das Missões (IBRAM)
- Museu das Missões (Cadastro Nacional de Museus) , IBRAM
- File:Ruinas de Sao Miguel das Missoes.jpg , Wikimedia Commons
- UNESCO World Heritage List , UNESCO World Heritage Centre (Linked as a reference; site facts come from Wikidata)
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.