Missions
Articles related to the Spanish missions in California.
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Mission San Antonio de Pala: Why You Need to Visit
San Antonio de Pala, founded in 1816 as an asistencia (branch) of San Luis Rey, is a living Native American community and an important destination on your next visit to San Diego.
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Mission San Diego in 3D
I am a big fan of old stereo photos. As a child I loved to look at View-Master reels, especially the ones with views of far away places. To look at these places through a 3D viewer gave me the impression that I was actually visiting the places. For a moment I was transported to a fascinating place, standing in the middle of a new landscape that I could almost touch.
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Mission Leveled by Quake, Tsunami Seen off Central Coast
Tsunamis are a fact of life in seismic California, as mission history reminds us. Dr. Dan Krieger is Professor Emeritus of History at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and a leading expert on the California missions. He relates the story of a tsunami that occurred off California’s central coast while Father Luis Gil y Taboada was stationed at Mission Santa Barbara. The padre experienced the effects of a magnitude 7.2 earthquake centered offshore, one which swiftly took its toll on vulnerable structures. Missions up and down the central and coast of California were damaged, some beyond repair. According to Krieger, Within several minutes, it leveled Mission La Purisima to “rubble and ruin, presenting the picture…
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California Mission List: Photos, Locations, Founders
Between 1769 and 1823 Spanish missionaries founded 21 missions up and down the coast of Alta California (today’s state of California). These missions were meant to continue the chain of missions extending north from the southern tip of Baja California.
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Interactive California Missions Map
This map of the Alta California missions displays the 21 missions that Franciscan missionaries founded between 1769 and 1823. Each mission was established near a Native American settlement in an area that was known to provide water and land suitable for farming and ranching. Each mission was also located within the protective zone of one of the four military presidios along the coastline. Over time this chain grew to include 21 missions, from San Diego to Sonoma. powered by Proxi List of California Missions Click for more information on each mission:
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Who Was Junípero Serra?
Junípero Serra was a Spanish priest who established the a series of missions among the native peoples of what is today California. He is considered by many to be the founding father of California and is recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church.
