KRAUS, Johann. - Bohemian Jesuit, missionary, and architect in America, b. at Pilsen on 19 June 1664, d. at Buenos Aires in 1714. Having entered the Society of Jesus in 1689 as a lay brother, he was assigned in 1698 to the Province of Paraguay.
There he exercised his craft in the reductions of Yapeyú, San Tomé, San Miguel, and especially San Juan, where he assisted Fr. A. Sepp in founding the village and built a large church. His more important works outside the reductions were at Córdoba in Tucumán (the novitiate house and college known as Monserrat, later completed by others from his designs) and at Buenos Aires. When he had to rebuild (except for the façade) the great church of San Ignacio in Buenos Aires, he closely followed the plan of the Gesù in Rome. Argentine art historians regard him as one of the most distinguished masters of colonial architecture in their country.
