Trinidad, Paraguay
Trinidad, Paraguay
Trinidad del Paraná, near the present-day city of Encarnación in southern Paraguay and one of the thirty missions of the Jesuit Province of Paraguay (1607–1767), was a center of missionary effort among the Guarani people. Under Jesuit tutelage the Guarani learned Christianity as well as European agriculture and other skills, and quickly exhibited high artistic talents.
The jewel of Trinidad is its church, begun in 1706. There one is struck by the skill of the Guarani, particularly their holy statuary. Upon the main doors of the church artists carved impressive examples of the native flora. In recent decades archeologists have excavated polychrome statuary that reveals a new dimension to the ability of the native craftsmen and artists.
See alsoGuarani Indians; Jesuits; Missions: Spanish America.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ganson, Barbara. The Guaraní under Spanish Rule in the Río de la Plata. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2003.
McNaspy, Clement J., and Jose M. Blanch. Lost Cities of Paraguay: Art and Architecture of the Jesuit Reductions, 1607–1767. Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1982.
Jerry W. Cooney