Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sights
San Ignacio Miní
RUIN
(
www.misiones-jesuiticas.com.ar
;
entrance Calle Alberdi s/n; joint missions ticket AR$70;
7am-6pm Apr-Sep, 7am-7pm Oct-Mar)
These mission ruins are the most complete of those in
Argentina: atmospheric and impressive for the quantity of carved ornamentation still vis-
ible and for the amount of restoration. The interpretation center provides good back-
ground information, and the ruins themselves feature interactive panels providing multi-
lingual audio.
Admission includes entry to the nearby ruins at Santa Ana and Loreto and also to
Santa María la Mayor, a little further afield.
There is a worthwhile sound-and-light show (foreigners AR$70) at the ruins every
non-rainy night.
First founded in 1610 in Brazil, but abandoned after repeated attacks by slavers, San
Ignacio was established here in 1696 and functioned until the Jesuit expulsion. The ruins,
rediscovered in 1897 and restored between 1940 and 1948, are a great example of 'Guar-
aní baroque.' At its peak, the settlement had a Guaraní population of nearly 4000.
The interpretation center is an impressive display with plenty of unbiased information
(in Spanish and English) about the missions from both Jesuit and Guaraní perspectives.
You can listen to Guaraní music, including some religious pieces composed at the mis-
sions, and inspect a virtual model of San Ignacio as it would have been.
There are free guided tours (multilingual) of the ruins. You first pass between rows of
Guaraní houses before arriving at the plaza, on one side of which is the enormous red
sandstone church. Impressive in its dimensions, it is the focal point of the settlement.
While the red-brown stone is very picturesque in its contrast with the green grass, the
buildings were originally white. Before lime was available, it was obtained by burning
snail shells.
Times for the nightly show vary according to number of groups. It's a touching, at
times haunting, experience played out in various locations using projections onto a mist
of water spray, giving a ghostlike quality. Headsets offer a variety of languages.
Casa de Horacio Quiroga
HOUSE
(Av Quiroga s/n; admission AR$20; 8am-6pm)
Uruguayan writer Horacio Quiroga was a
get-back-to-nature type who found his muse in the rough-and-ready Misiones backwoods
lifestyle. His simple house at the southern end of town (a 30-minute walk) was built by
himself out of stone.
