Encarnacion

I am glad that I had specific objectives for visiting this city.  If not for the three missions, I may have been very disappointed for stopping here.

This is the first time that I have seen the city hall and cathedral laid out in a back to back manner.

The Plaza de Armas is the main square located several blocks from the city hall/cathedral.  It has a small Japanese garden as part of its features.

The department government offices are located in this city.  They share a block with a very nice park.  Just across the river is the city of Posadas, Argentina.  That will be my next destination.

Another Lailah Gifty Akita quote, “There are different paths to your destination.  Choose your own path.”

San Cosme y San Damian (1632)

My visit to San Cosme y San Damian completed my circuit of the Ruta Jesuita in Paraguay.

This was a former Jesuit astronomical observatory.  It was the main astronomical center of South America.

It preserves the original sun dial, made of stone.

It has the only Jesuit school and a church with lots of images of great value.

There were certainly items of great interest to see but overall I was disappointed in my visit to this location.  The majority of the structures have been reconstructed and without my guide, it would have been very difficult to identify that which was original.

Santa Rosa de Lima (1698)

Located in the city of Santa Rosa, its old town is a valuable historical testimony.  It contains the only complete Native House of the 30 missions.

It has a free-standing bell tower of its era.

The altar piece of the church is another amazing piece of work.

The famous chapel of Nuestra Senora de Loreto.  It is now a museum in its own right.

The chapel contains some original frescoes painted on the walls and sculptures representing the Annunciation, true jewels of the baroque.

There is another version of the pieta in the museum.

Santiago Apostol (1651)

This mission is located in the city of Santiago.

It has the best Jesuit urban historic center with Native houses lining the square.

There was a photo of the original church inside the museum.  Some of the original walls of the mission could be seen as well as the original layout of the mission complex.

Its museum contains pieces of great archaeological value.

The nativity was missing its Jesus which had been stolen.  The mission version of the Pieta by Michelangelo was on display.  The original baptismal font was also on display.

The present church has a Baroque altarpiece perhaps unique among the remains of the Missions.

Santa Maria de Fe (1647)

Santa Maria de Fe is located in the city of Santa Maria.

This is the replacement church and the park which fronts the church.  The original church was destroyed by fire in 1889.

Fortunately, many images from the altarpieces and other statues were preserved.

Many of the pieces still retain their original colors.

The museum was installed in a House of Natives and exhibits some of the original images of San Ignacio, San Francisco Javier, San Pedro and others.

Entry into the museum also permitted entry into the current church.  The altarpiece of the church is a magnificent work of art.

San Ignacio Guazu (1609)

San Ignacio Guazu is located in the modern town of San Ignacio.  This is not the original church.  The original burnt in the 1800’s.

The mission was founded on December 29, 1609.  The local cacique (Chief) Arapysandu, took the founding Jesuit priests to land which he gave them.  The priests built an altar and celebrated their first mass.

The Jesuit mission was officially established in 1610 as San Ignacio Guazu.  This mission became the center for the Jesuit missions in Paraguay.  As a side note, it is believed that soccer, as a sport, was invented by the natives in this city.

The diocesan museum preserves carvings of great variety and value.  Certain of the pieces have been displayed at major world events.  It was the highlight of my visit to San Ignacio.

The museum is organized in four rooms:  The creation, the redemption, the history of Jesus in the church and the history of the Jesuits.

The building which houses the museum is one of the oldest still standing buildings of Paraguay.  It was part of the school which stood close to the original church.  After having burnt, the church fell down completely in 1921.

Santisima Trinidad del Parana(1706)

The Jesuit Guarani Reduction (Mission) of Santisima Trinidad del Parana is a World Heritage Site.

I benefited from having visited Sao Miguel in Brazil about a year ago.  It gave me a greater appreciation for the layout of the mission property itself.

Sandstone is an easy material to work but I thought that there was a high degree of skill exhibited in the carvings and architectural details shown.

The bell tower here was a free standing structure.

Jesus de Tavarangue(1685)

Jesus de Tavarangue is also a World Heritage Site.  It would have contained one of the largest churches in the region except it was incomplete due to the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767/8.

The bell tower was a massive structure and integrated into the construction of the church.

There was a great amount of architectural detailing.

Paraguay’s Jesuit Route

I am prepared to be put in awe and be amazed as I travel this route in Paraguay.  I expect similar reactions as when I traveled the Chiquitos in Bolivia and Chiloe Island in Chile.  Follow me as I travel from city to city to see these sights in Paraguay.

San Ignacio Guasu was the first of the thirty mission villages founded by the Jesuits in the 17th and 18th centuries in southern Paraguay, northern Argentina, southern Brazil and Uruguay.

When installing a mission, missionaries first built the church, next to it there was the Coty Guazu or House of the Older Men, the school and the town hall, workshops, store and dairy.

Opposite to the church, they used to leave a space for the plaza.  The dwellings of the Natives stood in front of the plaza.  The Natives were given parcels of land and they were taught how to cultivate it and to manage livestock.

The ratio of Natives to missionaries was typically three missionaries to three or four thousand natives.

The economic and political growth of the missions aroused the animosity of the rulers of the time and generated successive attempts to submit them to the will of the Spanish authorities.  Finally, the Jesuits were expelled from America by the king of Spain in 1767.

The following is a direct quote of the Paraguay Secretaria Nacional de Tourism:

Paraguay’s Jesuit Route is equivalent to a tour that covers San Ignacio Guazu, Santa Maria de Fe, Santa Rosa, San Cosme y San Damian, Santísima Trinidad del Paraná and Jesus de Tavarangue. In all these cities are conserved enough samples of what it was that period of 150 years of presence of the missionaries of the Society of Jesus in Paraguay

During all that time dedicated to the evangelization of the native population of Paraguay, they developed know-how that achieved depth as the music, the architecture, the sculpture, the painting, the graphic arts and other sciences.

In San Ignacio Guazu, the Diocesan Museum conserves the most finished sample of the baroque art, the images carved in wood by the Indians, the employment of the colors and the perfection of their forms and proportions reveal the dimension of the task of teaching and the high degree of assimilation of the Indians catechized.

Santa Rosa preserve part of the Jesuitical constructions as the bell tower that up to now serves to call to the faithful, the coty guasu or Indian house that covers all the block, Virgin of Loreto chapel where are conserved frescos and images of great beauty and value

Santa Maria de Fe is also a depository of some of the great legacy of the Jesuits. The museum is housed in what was originally Indian home guards sacred wood art carved by the Indians and other objects of worship

Complete the missionary circuit the city of Santiago, whose church is the only complete altarpiece of the Jesuit time. What was Indian house also became a museum where you can see a rich variety of sculptures

The Department of Itapúa gave seat to Santísima Trinidad del Paraná where can be observed what was the architectural assembly there erected. Today, the installation of a system of lights, sound and images for nocturnal visits permits to amuse the life that shared Indians and missionaries in that reduction

Very close to Trinidad is Jesus de Tavarangue whose urban structure consists of the temple, which was left incomplete, the Plaza Mayor, the College attached to the church, the houses of protection for orphans and widows called Coty Guazú or Casa Grande

San Cosme y San Damian is another jewel left to Paraguay by the Jesuit missions. This reduction more than just fulfill the mission of catechesis was a science center specialized in astronomical observation and interpretation. It was recently performed the restoration of this complex that is currently designated “Astronomical Interpretation Center Buenaventura Suárez” in tribute to its creator and director.

Concepcion

The city’s nickname is “the Pearl of the North”.

There is not much to see in this city, according to many travel sources, but I had not been here before and wanted to see it for myself.  There are always things to see in a new city.  Sometimes you are lucky enough to find them and other times not.

I like to walk around in order to give myself the chance to find things.  The city hall was in a newer building while these former mansions are in various states of repair.

The plaza central is located in front of the cathedral and its relatively small museum of sacred art.

The city is a port city for boat traffic on the Rio Paraguay which goes northwards to the border with Brazil.  It was peaceful to sit in the park by the river but I saw no boats on the river except the small power boats ferrying people across the river.

There is a huge statue of the Virgin Mary in the middle of one of the main highways through the city.  It is immediately in front of the Salesian church and school.  There was no museum connected to this church.

Oh well, now I know.  LOL

Paulo Coelho, the Brazilian novelist, wrote, “Everything tells me that I am about to make a wrong decision, but making mistakes is just part of life. What does the world want of me? Does it want me to take no risks, to go back to where I came from because I didn’t have the courage to say “yes” to life?”