São Miguel das Missões

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis: San Ignacio Mini, Santa Ana, Nuestra Señora de Loreto and Santa Maria la Mayor (Argentina), Ruins of Sao Miguel das Missoes (Brazil)
Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List
Type	Cultural
Criteria	iv
Reference	275-291
UNESCO region	Latin America and the Caribbean
Inscription history
Inscription	1983 (7th Session)
Extensions	1984
Location of São Miguel das Missões in Brazil.

São Miguel das Missões is a municipality in Rio Grande do Sul state, southern Brazil. Important 17th century Spanish Jesuit mission ruins are located in the municipality.

San Miguel Mission is within Sant'Angelo Microregion, and the Riograndense Northwest Mesoregion.

Mission São Miguel das Missões

The town grew around the Spanish colonial Jesuit Reduction, Mission San Miguel Arcángel, founded in 1632. After being part of Brazil was renamed Mission São Miguel das Missões.

In 1984 Mission São Miguel das Missões was one of four sites of Jesuit reductions in Argentina and one in Brazil to be declared by UNESCO the Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis World Heritage Sites.

Museum

The Museu das Missões (Museum Mission) is a history museum located in São Miguel Mission.

The creation of the museum was one of the first initiatives of the Office of Historical and Artistic Heritage, today IPHAN. In 1937 the SPHAN was created and in the same year, the architect Lucio Costa was sent to Rio Grande do Sul to analyze the remains of the ruins of the Seven Peoples of the Missions, and propose measures. One of his proposals was to create a museum to house the statues missionaries dispersed throughout the region. In 1938, the remnants of the town of San Miguel and the museum building were listed as National Heritage, and in 1940, the Museum of the Missions was officially established.

Between 1938 and 1940, the architect Lucas Mayerhofer directed the stabilization works in the mission Church of San Miguel, the construction of the museum building, and was in charge of gathering the works of statuary.

Currently listed in the museum's collection are religious images from the time of installation of the Jesuit missions in the region.

Geography

Area of the City

• 1246 km²

Population

• 7,682 inhabitants.

See also

• Spanish Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis-related topics
• Governorate of Paraguay
• Misiones Orientales
• Governorate of the Río de la Plata
• Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata

External links

• São Miguel das Missões travel guide from Wikivoyage