BajaNomad

What did they look like?

academicanarchist - 3-3-2007 at 10:23 AM

I was working on an article manuscript today, and made reference to a 1792 diagram of one of the ex-Jesuit missions in Paraguay. It is often difficult to visualize what a mission complex looked like in its prime when seeing ruins, but contemporary diagrams such as this help.

1792 Martires Diagram.jpg - 28kB

Ruins of Martires mission today

academicanarchist - 3-3-2007 at 10:25 AM

This photo shows the ruins of the church of Martires Mission, shown in the 1792 diagram.

Martires Church Ruins.jpg - 43kB

bajalera - 3-3-2007 at 10:36 AM

Interesting plan--and they must be using Vigoro on the plants.

selva

academicanarchist - 3-4-2007 at 06:43 AM

Typical rain forest. The attached photo is of San Francisco Xavier mission in eastern Bolivia. The Martires church probably looked very much like this one, with the wide roof creating shade in an otherwise hot and humid climate.

371744792IyWGSu_fs.jpg - 17kB

Bob H - 3-4-2007 at 11:49 AM

I thought of the very same thing when visiting the Myan ruins in Southern Mexico. How did they look before? Some of those places were absolutly fantastic and beyond belief how they were built. Same thing goes for the Inca ruins in Peru. Just unbelievable.