The Mission Museum (

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

: Museu das Missões) is a

historical museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

São Miguel das Missões São Miguel das Missões is a municipality in Rio Grande do Sul state, southern Brazil. Important 17th century Spanish Jesuit mission ruins are located in the municipality. San Miguel Mission is within Santo Ângelo Microregion, and the Riogrand ...

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. It is located on the site of the ruins of São Miguel das Missões, a

jesuit reduction Reductions ( es, reducciones, also called ; , pl. ) were settlements created by Spanish rulers and Roman Catholic missionaries in Spanish America and the Spanish East Indies (the Philippines). In Portuguese-speaking Latin America, such red ...

including the Church of São Miguel Arcanjo and surrounding ruins. The museum houses works from the church and statuary of the Rio Grande do Sul region. The museum was designed by the architect

Lúcio Costa Lúcio Marçal Ferreira Ribeiro Lima Costa (27 February 1902 – 13 June 1998) was a Brazilian architect and urban planner, best known for his plan for Brasília. Career Costa was born in Toulon, France, the son of Brazilian parents. His fath ...

(1902–1998) and was built from materials from the ruins. It was conceived as an open shelter for religious works related to the church site; transparent glass panels were soon added.

Construction

The creation of the museum was one of the first initiatives of the government organization now known as

National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage The National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (, IPHAN) is a heritage register of the federal government of Brazil. It is responsible for the preservation of buildings, monuments, structures, objects and sites, as well as the register and ...

, known at the time as SPHAN. SPHAN was created in 1937 and in the same year the architect

(1902–1998) was sent by the organization to Rio Grande do Sul to analyze the remnants of the Sete Povos das Missões (''Seven Peoples of the Missions'') and propose conservation measures for the site. The architect Lucas Mayerhofer directed the stabilization works in the (Church of São Miguel) and designed a museum building to house statuary related to the site. It officially opened in 1940. The museum became part of the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

titled "Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis" in 1984.

Destruction

The museum was almost completely destroyed by a tornado on April 26, 2016. Both the structure, its glass walls, and 83 Jesuit statues were significantly damaged.

References

{{authority control Archaeological museums in Brazil Lúcio Costa buildings Museums established in 1940 Museums in Rio Grande do Sul 1940 establishments in Brazil