San Ignacio Guazu, First Jesuit Reduction, Jewel of Heritage

The Jesuit Reductions of Paraguay (1609-1768), were settlements of Guarani Indians, promoted by the fathers of the Society of Jesus in the lands conquered by Portugal and Spain, with the desire to safeguard their identity as people and vassals of the crown, these reductions, were a set of thirty villages founded in South America in the seventeenth century. San Ignacio Guazu, in Paraguay, was the first to be founded in 1609, being one of the most outstanding and prosperous Jesuit missions of the colonial period. With the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767, this Jesuit Reduction, like others, entered a period of abandonment and deterioration, which threatened the integrity of the real estate, endangering its patrimonial value. Unfortunately, this legacy of history and culture is still ignored by a percentage of the general population and by the lack of effectiveness of policies to protect the historical and cultural heritage. The proposal of the text, as a methodological procedure, guarantees each step to follow for the restoration and/or conservation of real estate of heritage value in San Ignacio Guazu.