California Missions
The 21 Spanish missions that dot the coast of California are some of the oldest remaining structures in the state. California Missions possess historic, cultural and religious significance; they also represent a particular architectural style that has been inspirational in California ever since their construction. They also hold interest for gardening enthusiasts, as their gardens and plots were as important as the buildings in the goal of self-sufficiency. The missions vary considerably in size. Some missions have been restored and are open to the public for tours; some are still working churches, while others are partially ruined.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. once wrote, “When I want to understand what is happening today or try to decide what will happen tomorrow, I look back.”
Stretching from San Diego to Sonoma, the 21 missions of Alta California are storied reminders of California and our nation’s past. Few regions of the world have such a physical, visual timeline of a nation’s growth and development.
California Missions were designed by the padres, and actually built by the Native Americans they hoped to convert. Each mission was unique in a few ways, but they all had the same basic plan: a large, four-sided Mission Layout building with a patio in the center. The church was usually placed in one corner of the square; it was always the tallest and grandest building. All the rooms in the square building faced the patio. The back was reserved for the unmarried native women who worked in the kitchen. The other three sides contained the rooms for the two priests of the mission, workshops, a kitchen, storage rooms for food, and the mission office. The rest of the Native Americans lived outside the mission walls in huts. Surrounding the mission were vast fields used for growing crops and feeding livestock.
In 1769, under order of the Spanish king, sea and land expeditions departed Mexico for California, meeting in San Diego where the first fort and mission were established to serve as frontier outposts. The King sent military troops and Franciscan missionaries to the new land to colonize the territory and convert its Indian inhabitants to Christianity.
Founding of the California Missions began seven years before the American Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, and ended 25 years before gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in 1848. Mission expansion came to an end in 1823, when mission bells rang in Sonoma.
Over 54 years, four forts, or presidios, and twenty-one missions were founded along the California coast. Some of these sites eventually evolved into the state’s major cities, including San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Jose and San Francisco.
California without its missions is equally unthinkable. Since the Spanish friars and native peoples joined together in the building of these settlements, this land we call
California has been shaped and influenced by what they accomplished in that most ambitious undertaking. From the vineyards of Sonoma to the ranches of Santa Barbara to the adobe arcades and red tile roofs of San Diego, the missions have left their mark on who we are and what we have become.
Mission San Luis Rey San Luis Rey de Francia
San Luis Rey de Francia nicknamed “King of the Missions” became the eighteenth of the California Missions and the largest and most populous of all. It was founded by Father Lasuén June 13, 1798, the ninth and last mission founded before his death in 1803. Named for Louis IX, King of France (1215-1270), the present church was designed by Father Antonio Peyri. Building began in 1811 and was completed and dedicated in 1815. Mission San Luis Rey also had the largest herd of livestock of any of the missions. In addition to the greater than 50,000 cattle and sheep, they had 1,300 goats, 300 pigs, and almost 2,000 horses. The Franciscans left the mission in 1846 but returned in 1892 and began the restoration.
