Many are the mysteries that surround the residual patrimony of the Jesuit missions in Brazil. Due to factors linked to their expulsion from the Portuguese territories (1759), the so-called "spolio" was destroyed, dispersed, and sold, as the inventories show. In this text, we intend to present processes of destruction, dispersion, reconstruction, preservation, and worship that marked the history of the Jesuit heritage in the southeast region of the country, and particularly the Colleges of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and the São Paulo coast. Through the study of these cases, it will be possible to demonstrate the meaning of such phenomena for a more accurate understanding of the history of art and architecture of the colonial era in Brazil. Moreover, destruction, preservation, and restoration are options based on criticism and their history will be considered as a document of the ideological and aesthetic postures of Brazilian society.