Missões

This is what's left of the catedral o São miguel, one of the more important sites of the missões. The missios where a string of 7 jesuit missionary stations. Their history being a important and interesting example of a multicultural experiment. The jesuit priest came here in 1600 and treated the guarani indians as equals and in the 150 years to come the region flurished. The guarani proved to be good craftsmen and still some very few wooden statues are seen to tell the tale. However the portuguese and spanish crown did not like this development, part because it was set up by the jesuits, part because they liked their provinces to be just that... Their provinces!
The region changed hands from spain to portugal, the pope banned the jesuits and by 1750 all the settlements got eradicated and what could have become a good example of christianism became just another genocite.
Still the ruins are beautiful..