Church façade
18th-century stone.
Vini Araujo Landscapher Photographer — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Carin Kunde — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Maria Lucia P. Sampaio — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Maria Lucia P. Sampaio — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Foto Fernando Gomes — CC BY-SA 4.0
The ruins of São Miguel Arcanjo are the best-known remains of the «Seven Peoples of the Missions», the villages the Jesuit fathers built with the Guaraní people in what is now southern Brazil. The mission was founded in 1687 and its stone church built between 1735 and 1750; the village was burned and abandoned in 1756 during the Guaraní War. Restoration of what was left began in 1925, Brazil's heritage body listed it in 1938, and it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983, part of a single site with the Guaraní missions in Argentina; Guaraní communities still hold it sacred. Tickets are R$14 and R$7 reduced. The site opens Tuesday to Sunday 9:00-12:00 and 13:30-18:00 (to 19:00 in summer), and on Monday afternoons. A sound-and-light show tells the mission's story every evening in Portuguese, and in other languages on set days, for R$30-50.
18th-century stone.
The story at night.
Inside the site.
São Miguel das Missões, Rio Grande do Sul
Every evening in Portuguese, and in other languages on set days, for R$30-50.