Where the movie "The Mission" with R. De Niro and Jeremy Irons was filmed

Our journey in Argentina continues.

After having visited Buenos Aires, the Perito Moreno Glacier and the Iguazu Falls we are now heading to another great destination in Argentina.

Do you remember the movie "The Mission" with Ennio Morricone's wonderful soundtrack, starring R. De Niro and Jeremy Irons?
It was set at the Iguazu Falls and at the Jesuit Mission of San Ignacio de Mini in the province of Missiones.
San Ignacio de Mini is a Unesco site and it is a wonderful destination we exploring in this post.




Walking through the ruins of the Jesuit mission of San Ignacio de Mini you easily feel you are back at the time of the movie "The Mission" when the Jesuit community was isolated, surrounded by the jungle and exposed to daily danger.
San Ignacio de Mini represents in a way even the ruins of a new way of life in the Americas, that although with many limits and downsides has to be seen as modern and certainly fascinating for its times.
The Catholic order of the Jesuits founded in San Ignacio one of the most important settlements for indigenous people in South America.

The mission had a population of around 3000 people.

The Spanish Empire gathered native populations into centers called Indian Reductions ("Reducciones de Indios"), to Christianize and govern efficiently.

The reductions enjoyed a high level of autonomy within motherland Spain.

The reductions used the Indian labour and became economically successful.

When attacked, the reductions created their own army and became stronger and indipendent.

Eventually the high degree of indipendence achieved both from the Church and from the European Powers lead to the expulsion of the Jesuits from the Americas.

The Jesuit reductions present today a controversial issue in the evangelisational history of South America.

For many the destruction of the Jesuit reductions represent the sad end of an attempt of integration between the Jesuits and the local Guarinis.

For many others the experience of the reductions represent little more than another face of the Church's theocratic regime of terror in the new discovered South America.





We hope you enjoyed our photos.
Read How to get to San Ignacio de Mini and more posts and itineraries for your journey in Argentina.