Santa María la Mayor

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Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis: San Ignacio Mini, Santa Ana, Nuestra Señora de Loreto and Santa María la Mayor (Argentina), Ruins of Sao Miguel das Missoes (Brazil)*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
State Party	Argentina and Brazil
Type	Cultural
Criteria	iv
Reference	275-291
Region†	Latin America and the Caribbean
Inscription history
Inscription	1983 (7th Session)
Extensions	1984
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. † Region as classified by UNESCO.

Reducción de Santa María la Mayor (Reduction of Holy Maria Mayor), located in the Santa María Department of the Misiones Province, Argentina, at approximate coordinates 27°33′S, 55°20′W, was one of the missions or reductions founded in the 17th century by the Jesuits in the Americas during the Spanish colonial period.

Location of the most important reductions, with present political divisions.

The Jesuit reduction was found in founded in 1626, and by 1744 it held a population of 993. It was abandoned when the Jesuits were expelled from the Spanish colonies in 1767. The ruins of the reduction were declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1984, together with other reductions in the area. The ruins have been taken over by vegetation, and are not as well preserved as those of San Ignacio Miní, also in Misiones.

v • d • e World Heritage Sites in Argentina

Cueva de las Manos, Río Pinturas · Iguazú National Park · Ischigualasto / Talampaya Natural Parks · Jesuit Block and Estancias of Córdoba · Guaraní Jesuit Missions of San Ignacio Miní, Nuestra Señora de Santa Ana, Nuestra Señora de Loreto and Santa María la Mayor (with Brazil) · Los Glaciares · Península Valdés · Quebrada de Humahuaca