The Jesuit missions of Trinidad and Jesús

Two mission towns in the Paraguayan interior, founded from 1609, where Jesuits and Guaraní built something that lasted about 150 years and then was simply switched off. La Santísima Trinidad de Paraná has the biggest church of any of the Guaraní missions, with an altar carved out of a single piece of stone, a central square and a museum of the sculpture that came off the walls. Jesús de Tavarangue was never finished, and what stands is the stone pulpit, friezes of angels and a carved stone rose set into the door lintels. It ended in 1767 when the Jesuits were expelled from the Province of Río de la Plata and the towns emptied. UNESCO listed both in 1993. Itapúa department.