Reducción de Santa María la Mayor, Argentina

Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis: San Ignacio Mini, Santa Ana, Nuestra Señora de Loreto and Santa María la Mayor (Argentina), Ruins of Sao Miguel das Missoes (Brazil)

UNESCO World Heritage Site
Criteria	Cultural: iv
Reference	275-291
Inscription	1983 (7th Session)
Extensions	1984

Reducción de Santa María la Mayor (Reduction of Holy Maria Major), located in the Santa María Department of the Misiones Province, Argentina, at approximate coordinates 27°33′S 55°20′W, was one of the missions or reductions founded in the 17th century by the Jesuits in the Americas during the Spanish colonial period. In 1984 it was one of four reduction sites in Argentina designated as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.

Location of the most important reductions, with present political divisions.

Jesuit Reductions

The Jesuit reduction of Santa María la Mayor was founded in 1626, and by 1744 it held a population of 993. It was abandoned after the Jesuits were expelled from the Spanish colonies in 1767 after suppression of the order by the Spanish and Portuguese governments.

World Heritage Site

In 1984 the ruins of the reduction were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, together with three other reductions in the area of Argentina and one in Brazil, all formerly part of the Province of Paraguay during the colonial era. The ruins have been grown over by vegetation. They are not as well preserved as those of San Ignacio Miní, also in Misiones.

See also

• Jesuit Reductions