On a Mission, part 1

Tops on our list of tourist attractions to cover during Joan's first trip to San Antonio in a decade was the Missions. Especially since she'd never seen any of them other than the Alamo, and I, shamefully, had only gone one better.

We started out with the one I have seen before, San José (official name: Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo), which is also the site which provides my new blog banner. Here is another view of the impressive church with some of its side structures, taken from within a doorway in one of the restored mission rooms:

There has actually been quite a lot of restoration work at this mission over the years, but that doesn't detract from its loveliness or historical interest. The Park Service informational signs give you a good record of its ups and downs as a site that's been by turns sacred, abandoned, re-discovered, neglected, mis-used, and, finally, treasured and protected.

The whole grounds are interesting, but the highlights, in addition to the chapel (pictures coming up) are the arches which form an arcade along one side of the mission complex. Great photo opps here!

Some of the interior spaces are quite impressive, too. For example, there's this round room you can see on the right, with incredibly thick walls and picturesque tiny windows. We were to learn by seeing some similar structures elsewhere in this complex and at some of the other missions, that it was a kind of guard house or defensive bulwark where attacking Indians could be fired upon from safety. Most of the rooms of this type, however, were much smaller than this one, which must be 20 feet or so in diameter.

Another even more spectacular interior space is the granary, shown in the picture below. You can also see some of the original colorful decorations that at one time graced the exteriors of all the missions as well, at least to the best of archeologist's knowledge. There is a remnant of the exterior decoration at San José on the side of the chapel's exterior wall, in the picture on the left above.

The jewel of San José, and perhaps of the whole mission system, is its elaborately Baroque chapel. The limestone carvings and statuary around the doors and windows are fine examples of Spanish colonial style. While the mission itself was established in 1720, construction of the chapel began in 1768, the "peak of the mission's development," according to the Park brochure, when 350 Indians lived there.

The most famous bit of carving is around the "Rose Window," which I can remember puzzled me mightily when I first saw it, since I was expecting a window like the ones with that name in European cathedrals. But there is an intriguing mystery surrounding this window in addition to the impressive stonework. Was it called the "Rose Window" because of the lost love, named Rosa, of the stonemason who carved it? Or was it named for St. Rose of Lima, first saint of the New World? Or was it given its name to confuse tourists with a smattering of art history knowledge?

Here is more of the beautiful stonework (some of it partially restored, some original) adorning the chapel:

And here is a shot showing more of the facade, so you can see where the doors fit in:

Church services are still held in the chapel, as they are at each of the missions, which makes them even more impressive structures—still important parts of their communities, even as the modern city has grown up around them. [Weddings are held here, too—including one of my sister-in-law's!]

After touring San José we headed off downstream (all the missions, logically enough, were founded along the banks of the San Antonio River) to see the other three non-Alamo missions. None of these other sites are as well-preserved and/or restored as San José, but each one holds particular interest for the tourist. And since I'd never seen them before, I was excited about the journey. I'll have pictures from these other missions in my next post.