MISIÓN SALESIANA

Situated a few kilometres before the city, this Salesian mission was founded in 1893 with the aim of evangelising the Onas (or Selknam), the original people of the region which has now disappeared. As early as the 1870s, the Salesians set out to attack the indigenous peoples in order to evangelize them. Relating to St. Francis de Sales, a Savoyard Catholic priest, the Salesian missionaries played a controversial role, to say the least, among the nomadic peoples of Tierra del Fuego. In principle, their mission was to "civilize" the Onas by bringing them education, comfort and hygiene. Grouped in reducciones, the Onas had to give up their nomadism and their way of life and were victims of a psychological as well as physical upheaval (they suffered the consequences of numerous illnesses). Although the Salesians were the initiators of this devastating experience, which resulted in thousands of deaths, they ensured the protection of these populations considered vulnerable when they were in the hands of the large landowners (who were constantly acquiring thousands of hectares of land). Among the massacres perpetrated against the Onas, it seems important to us to mention those of Julio Popper and José Menéndez: two figures infamous for having participated greatly in the indigenous genocide. During your visit, you will be able to go back in time and visit the museum, the fishponds, the historical chapel, the sisters' workshop and the main building.