Jesuit Missions of La Santísima Trinidad de Paraná and Jesús de Tavarangue

Red stone ruins in the fields of Itapúa recall an extraordinary social experiment: the Jesuit mission towns that Christianised the Río de la Plata basin through the 17th and 18th centuries. La Santísima Trinidad de Paraná, the most complete of Paraguay's missions, keeps its carved frieze of angel musicians; nearby Jesús de Tavarangue preserves a great church left unfinished. UNESCO inscribed the two missions in 1993 — Paraguay's first World Heritage Site.