In 1887, the Uruguayan traveler Adolfo de Bourgoing arrived in the Paraguayan town of Trinidad, then part of the Misiones region, with a specific mission: to collect religious objects and images from the former Jesuit reductions for the recently created Museo de La Plata in Argentina. His account, published in his book Viajes en el Paraguay y Misiones and recently reissued by Tiempo de Historia and Fondec, was reported by the Paraguayan outlet El Nacional.
Bourgoing, acting on instructions from the museum's director, Francisco P. Moreno, sought to salvage what he described as “interesting vestiges” of Jesuit artistic instruction among the Guaraní. The museum’s collections, Moreno noted, were weak in materials from the Paraná littoral and the Misiones territory, and Bourgoing’s expedition aimed to fill that gap. The ruins of Trinidad, founded by the Jesuits in 1712, were described by Bourgoing as covered by “exuberant vegetation” and consisting of “half a dozen miserable huts” alongside the imposing stone remains of two temples.
Upon arrival, Bourgoing met Buenaventura Flecha, the “Jefe” (chief) of Trinidad and Jesús, who served as the local police authority and judge. Flecha, described as a grave, elderly man with white hair and mustache, was reading an old book under the arcades of a stone building. He offered Bourgoing and his companions two antique chairs, which he claimed came from the temple of Jesús and had been moved to his home for safekeeping. Bourgoing noted the chairs’ elaborate carving and gilding, though their original silk upholstery had been replaced with crude leather.
Bourgoing’s narrative reveals a calculated negotiation. He wrote that he feigned indifference to the artifacts, aware of Flecha’s “deplorable weakness” and “ungovernable greed” based on prior reliable information. The traveler proceeded slowly, aiming to secure the relics without alarming the local leader. The account, as published by El Nacional, does not detail the final outcome of the negotiations, but the context makes clear that Bourgoing’s mission was part of a broader effort by the Museo de La Plata to collect and preserve—or, as critics might say, to remove—the material heritage of the Jesuit missions.
The story, drawn from a single historical source, illustrates the complex dynamics of cultural patrimony in 19th-century South America, where scientific expeditions often doubled as relic-hunting ventures. The reissue of Bourgoing’s book by Tiempo de Historia and Fondec has brought renewed attention to this episode in Paraguay’s cultural history.