Ruins of São Miguel das Missões

Location of Ruins of São Miguel das Missões in Brazil

The Ruins of São Miguel das Missões (pronounced [ˈsɐ̃w miˈɡɛw dɐz miˈsõjs]; 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 and 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 for Guaraní Indians, which had the goal of converting them to Christianity and protecting locals 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", which led to the Guarani War. A joint Portuguese-Spanish army attacked and defeated the Guaraní, and the mission was destroyed.

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

• 
  Façade of São Miguel das Missões.
• 
  Interior view of the ruins of São Miguel das Missões.

World Heritage Site

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

• The Mission (1986) — film starring Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons, about the Jesuit Missions and the Guaraní War. The film set represented what is known of the appearance of the 18th-century São Miguel das Missões.
• Guarani War
• Jesuit Reductions
• List of Jesuit sites
• San Ignacio Miní
• Spanish missions in South America

References

External links

Media related to Ruins of São Miguel das Missões at Wikimedia Commons

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World Heritage Sites in Brazil

North Region

Central Amazon Conservation Complex

Northeast Region

Brazilian Atlantic Islands

Fernando de Noronha and Atol das Rocas Reserves

Discovery Coast Atlantic Forest Reserves¹

Historic Centre of São Luís

Historic Centre of Salvador de Bahia

Historic Centre of the Town of Olinda

São Francisco Square in São Cristóvão

Serra da Capivara National Park

Central-West Region

Brasília

Cerrado Protected Areas

Chapada dos Veadeiros and Emas National Park

Historic Centre of the Town of Goiás

Pantanal Conservation Area

Southeast Region

Atlantic Forest South-East Reserves¹

Discovery Coast Atlantic Forest Reserves¹

Historic Centre of the Town of Diamantina

Historic Town of Ouro Preto

Pampulha Modern Ensemble, Minas Gerais

Paraty and Ilha Grande – Culture and Biodiversity

Rio de Janeiro: Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea

Sanctuary of Bom Jesus de Matosinhos

Sítio Roberto Burle Marx

Valongo Wharf Archaeological Site

South Region

Atlantic Forest South-East Reserves¹

Iguaçu National Park

Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis²

Ruins of São Miguel das Missões

¹ Shared with other region/s

² Shared with Argentina

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