Our Mission: visit the Missions!

Our "mission" for our second day in San Antonio was to visit the 4 missions that were established along the river in the 1700's. These were just as interesting (maybe even more so) than the Alamo. Each had unique features that set them apart from each other.

Our first stop: the San Jose Mission, also known as San Jose y San Miguel del Aguayo. This was my personal favorite of the four. The complex around the San Jose Mission is large and the grounds are beautiful.

This is the side view of the mission once you enter into the expansive courtyard. Building began in 1768, and it was known as the "Queen of the Missions".
If you look at the above picture, you can see a large window on the side of the building, below the round dome. This is the famous Rose Window. Folklore credits Pedro Huizar with carving this window for the church. I met one of his descendants (6th generation)near the church doors, where they are restoring the facade. He gave me some interesting information about the church that you won't find in the literature given out to the public. A distant cousin of his that fought in the Civil War is buried in front of the church.
Below is a picture of the courtyard where 350 Indians resided in the 84 two room apartments during the 18th century. In the 104 years that Mission San Jose served as a mission, over 2000 Indians were baptized. It ceased to be a mission in February, 1824, when the Mexican government ordered that the church be turned over to Chaplain Maynes. There are still families that worship here today.
Our second stop was only a few miles north. Mission Concepcion has been restored to it's splendor of the mid-1700's, when it was the center of religious activity. The full name is Mission Nuestra Senora de las Purisima Concepcion de Acuna.
This is a closer view of the towers. Outside, some of the weathered facade still shows traces of the beautiful and colorful painted frescos.
This church is also still being used for religious services. Experts restored the original frescos on the conventon walls and ceiling in 1988 and conservation efforts this year exposed more frescos the the santuary and nave. I loved the peaceful colors used on the inside of the church. After a stop for lunch, we drove south to Mission San Juan Capistrano. It started out in 1716 as Mission San Jose de los Nazonis to serve the Nazonis Indians. Because it wasn't successful there, the mission was re-established by the San Antonio River in 1731 and renamed San Juan Capistrano.
When we got here, there was some plein air painting in session. Various budding artists were taking a class and and most had chosen their spots under the shade trees. One lady that we talked to had taken up painting after retiring and was loving it. Retirement does allow you to pursue interests that you put on the back burner for a long time while working and raising a family.
This is a different view of the church, with wood cross standing among a large group of prickly pear cactus.
Don't the pads on this cactus look like lobster claws to you? Or is it because I'm still wishing I could be closer to Maine and all that wonderful lobster? I digress. Anyway, this type of cactus had no needles and some of the buds were in the middle of the cactus pads, instead of on the ends.
Our last stop of the day was Mission Espada, founded in 1690 as San Francisco de los Tejas. This is the oldest of the East Texas missions, and was moved to the San Antonio River in 1731.
This mission is the only one that is made out of bricks. It served as a buffer against the French encroachment from Louisiana (maybe that's because they didn't like beignets and cafe au lait brought over by the French).

The front door to the church has a broken arch over it. Some speculate that this was a mistake of the builder, but he isn't around anymore to confirm or deny this. Let's just give him the benefit of the doubt and tell everyone that the ground sunk afterwards.