Cities · Misiones · The Jesuit Missions and the South

Yabebyry

Yabebyry lies in the far southwest of Misiones department, on a plain of broad grasslands from which a few hills rise. Its most striking feature is a square with two churches, the old and the modern, facing each other as symbols of two eras. The old church keeps the image of San Francisco, donated, according to tradition, by Marshal Francisco Solano López during his visits to the village to see Juanita Pesoa, his companion. The village was founded in 1790 under governor Joaquín de Alós y Brú. The district (980 km²) lies within the Ñeembucú ecoregion, with large floodplains, and holds the Yabebyry Wildlife Refuge, a 30,000-hectare protected area of lagoons, marshes and forests.