 Cattle crossing the river, Pauke S. J. ca. 1776 (40 K) |
The Santísima Trinidad of Paraná Mission
The Santísima Trinidad Mission was the biggest mission in Paraguayan territory
and capital of the Guayrá. It was built in 1706 under the direction of
the Jesuit Juán Bautista Primoli and it was incorporated to the List of
World Heritage by the UNESCO in 1993.
The church, built in stone and partially restored, has an elegant dome,
decorated walls and a pulpit carved in stone as well. The canyon vault
in the central nave was carried out in lime and brick.
The steeple, also partially restored, offers a very good view. The doors
of the sacristy are framed by slender Baroque columns and a frieze which
is decorated with an angel head surrounded by flowers, a typical Indian
decoration.
The urban structure 
is very well preserved, perhaps the best of all, with its Main Square,
the main church with its crypt, a smaller church, a school and a cloister,
the cemetery, vegetable gardens, a watch tower, the houses for the Indians
and shops. The houses of the natives present galleries that instead of
the habitual wooden posts are sustained by arches of stone on strong decorated
pillars also carved in stone.
 Monkeys. Florian Pauke S. J. ca. 1776 (32 K) |
