Current Watch Site

In 1609, the Spanish Crown installed the Society of Jesus in an area of South America that includes portions of present-day Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina. Thirty reducciones, or mission settlements, were established by the Jesuits to bring Christianity to the indigenous Guaraní as well as to manage Spanish economic interests in the region. Following the Guaraní War in the 1750s and the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spanish lands in 1767, the missions were abandoned. In the decades that followed, many were destroyed; others were harvested for building materials or simply deserted.

La Santísima Trinidad del Paraná was the most ambitious of these missions and one of the last to be constructed. Established in 1706 and completed in 1712, it was designed by the noted Jesuit architect Juan Bautista Primoli. Its well-preserved urban structure includes a plaza, a main church and a small church, a belfry, a college and cloister, housing, gardens, and workshops. La Santísima Trinidad del Paraná, now an archaeological ruin, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1993. Despite its significance and recognition, the mission faces problems of structural instability and imminent collapse; collective action is required to prevent further decay and potential disaster.