San Antonio Missions National Historical Park


One of the places I’ve had the pleasure of visiting twice is San Antonio, and specifically the Missions National Historical Park, which consists of five buildings, including the Alamo, the formal name of which is San Antonio de Valero, built in 1715.

The other four missions are Concepción, San José, San Juan, and Espada.


Mission Concepción was built in the mid 1700s and looks essentially like it did back then, except that the colorful exterior tiles have faded. I do remember that there are several frescos inside the building which are still quite visible and vibrant, along with a beautiful domed roof and a small clerestory windows at the bottom of the dome.

 

 

 


Mission San José was founded in 1720 by Fray Antonio Margil de Jesús, and it became a major social center. It is the largest of the missions and has a beautiful arched walkway with buttresses leading to the main building. This is an impressive structure with beautiful carved details around the doorway and lovely wrought iron gateways to passages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Mission San Juan was originally called San José de los Nazonis, and was moved in 1731 to its current location on the east bank of the San Antonio River. It was a supplier of produce with large irrigated fields, large orchards, and at one time reportedly had a flock of about 3500 sheep.

 

 

 

Mission Espada (photo at top) is personally my favorite. It’s the oldest of the missions, built in 1690 and moved to its current location in 1731. I love the rough hewn stone building which is much more colorful than the other missions. Unfortunately, both times I visited this mission there were services going on so I did not get to see the interior, but you can find images online of the interior of this simpler, but beautiful and well-maintained mission.

All in all, visiting these beautiful buildings was one of my favorite trips ever and I would go back in a heartbeat. If you like history and especially historic old buildings, you would love this park.


Historic information in this post was obtained from the National Park Service brochure.

If you would like to see more of my mission photos and the San Antonio area in general, please visit my gallery here:


https://mary-bedy.pixels.com/collections/san+antonio+texas

 

 

 




Comments

  1. Janice DrewSeptember 17, 2020 at 1:33 PM

    Mary, I love old architecture and history. You captured the details of these historic buildings beautifully.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mary BedySeptember 17, 2020 at 1:38 PM

      Thanks, Janice. They really do have a lot of character. And they are still actively in use today.

      Delete

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