It is an example of one of the many Jesuit reductions, small colonies established by the missionaries in various locations in South America, such as Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay throughout the 17th and 18th century.

These missions were built as self-contained societies that existed outside of regular Spanish colonial life that integrated indigenous populations with Christian faith.

Located near the modern day city of Encarnación, Trinidad was originally constructed in 1706, the intended self-sufficient city came complete with a central meeting plaza, where most of the celebrations, such as Mass and matrimony were celebrated, a large church meetinghouse, a school, several workshops, a museum and housing for the local Indian population.

The Jesuit expulsion from Spanish colonies in 1768 eventually led to the abandonment of Trinidad and the rest of the reducciones, which were left to decay, and later on, (in mainly the church structure where the saints' statues were decapacitated) were massacred in search for gold in the structure by the other Indian population of this region.

Owing in part to its relatively recent construction, Trinidad bore the weathering of time fairly well, and modern historical societies have maintained the current, well-preserved state of the ruins to this day.