Travel Guide Santa María De Fe

Santa María de Fé is located 11 km north of Ruta 1, at the foot of a hill called Cerrito. A peaceful village, where only a band of howler monkeys, squatting in the trees of the square, comes to break the tranquillity! This former Jesuit mission was founded in the 1630s by the French father Jacques Ransonnier, towards Itatines (in present-day Brazil). Invasions by the bandeirantes forced the colony to move to the present site in 1669. Santa María de Fé, or Our Lady of Fé, had the privilege of using the first press in South America, which was used to publish books in Latin, Spanish and Guarani. Santa María de Fé is worth a visit for its Museum of Sacred Art, which exhibits some of the most beautiful sculptures of Guarani Baroque art. The village is not lacking in charm, with magnificent trees, some of which already existed in the time of Aimé Bonpland. The French botanist lived here between 1821 and 1831, forced and compelled to stay, on the orders of Dr. Francia, who thought he was a spy for Argentina's cause... " Amado" Bonpland set up a hospital where he treated the sick with his medicinal plants. He was soon nicknamed Karaí arandú, or El Sabio ("the Wise One"), by the population. With time, he fell in love with the daughter of the cacique, María Chirivé, with whom he had two children. But the ruthless Dr. Francia decided one day to expel him from his house under house arrest, where he had finally enjoyed himself. The botanist will end his life in the Argentinean province of Corrientes, in the middle of its yerba mate fields. A monument pays homage to him next to the church, the school is named after him, and a museum was inaugurated in his honour in 2015