UNESCO has recognized the five Spanish missions set along ten miles of the San Antonio River as a World Heritage Site. For 10,000 years numerous small communities of hunter-gathers lived in southeast Texas. In the late 17th Century they were under attack by the newly-mounted Apache tribes to the north, by diseases from the Europeans settling to the south, and persistent drought. The Spanish government was trying to expand its control of New Spain, and oppose the expansion of France near the Mississippi River, and it encouraged the Franciscan Order to establish missions in what is now east Texas. Eventually, one of the missions moved to what is now known as the Alamo in central San Antonio. Soon another mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo started nearby. By the mid-eighteenth century the mission moved to its current location about six miles south of the Alamo. In 1759, the plaza was enclosed by walls, and soon thereafter a new stone church was built by the natives using a European design from the Franciscans.
Mission San Jose compound
350 Indians lived in residences along the walls, farmed and ranched the area, ran mills and other crafts.
Residences on the Mission San Jose courtyard
The new Mexican government began to secularize the missions. By 1824, San Jose was fully secularized. Later the military occupied the walled grounds. In 1859, the church was reopened for services, but part of the walls and dome collapsed in 1868, and the bell tower collapsed in 1928. Soon thereafter, a reconstruction effort began. The church here, as well as in the three other nearby missions, are parishes for the San Antonio diocese, and the surrounding land is protected as the San Antonio Missions National Historic Site.
San Jose mission church
Mission San Juan Capistrano moved from east Texas to its current location 2 1/2 miles south of San Jose in 1731. The current church is at least the third on the site and was built in 1796. This mission, too, was secularized by 1824, and then reopened as a parish church in 1909. Many of the current parishioners are decedents of the original mission inhabitants.
Mission San Juan Capistrano
A trail extends along the San Antonio River, and bike rental stands are located by each mission and other locations along the trail. I hopped on another bike and headed 1 1/2 to the furthermost south mission — Mission San Francisco de la Espada which moved here in 1731. Unfortunately, it did not protect the natives as promised when Apache’s raided the mission in 1736, and three years later smallpox and measles ravaged the families. Like Mission San Juan, the church has an elegant three-bell campanario.
Mission Espada
The furthest north of the four missions that are part of the National Historic Site is Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña—the Immaculate Conception. The church was completed in 1755 and is considered the oldest and best preserved Spanish colonial church in the U.S. When I visited one of the parishioners spoke about the history of the mission and the architecture of the church. On August 15, the feast of the Assumption of Mary, at 6:30 p.m. the evening sunlight shines through the west rose window and illuminates the very center of the cruciform church building while the light through the window in the dome illuminates the face of Mary on the 1676 painting that hangs behind the altar. While other churches have seasonal illuminations, Mission Concepcion is the only one that has a double illumination.
Mission Concepcion church
The Mission Concepcion church was built on the site of the limestone quarry that was used to construct the Alamo two miles north and Mission San Jose three miles south.
Mission San Antonio de Valero moved to its current location in 1724 and served as a mission until 1793, and gave its name to what is now the eighth largest city in the U.S. The mission then became a Spanish military outpost to protect against threats by France and the new United States. When Mexico gained independence in 1821, the outpost became known as the Alamo—Spanish for cottonwood. The building entered Texas and American legend after General Santa Anna laid siege to the fort and on March 6, 1836 killed the 189 defenders including Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie. Today, you can wait in line, get your picture taken outside the building, but you must remove your hat and can’t take any pictures in a building that hasn’t been used as a church for over two centuries. The Alamo is protected by the State of Texas and not part of the San Antonio Missions National Historic Site.
The Alamo, aka Mission San Antonio de Valero