On 05 July 2015, the UN designated the San Antonio Missions as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Five Spanish missions and a ranch property located in and around San Antonio make up site.
The specific properties that comprise this UNESCO World Heritage site are as follows:
*Mission San Antonio de Valero (AKA The Alamo)
*Mission Espada
*Mission San Jose
*Mission Conception and
*Mission San Juan
*Ranch de las Cabras
From the UNESCO Website: (
visit link)
"San Antonio Missions
The site encompasses a group of five frontier mission complexes situated along a stretch of the San Antonio River basin in southern Texas, as well as a ranch located 37 kilometres to the south. It includes architectural and archaeological structures, farmlands, residencies, churches and granaries, as well as water distribution systems. The complexes were built by Franciscan missionaries in the 18th century and illustrate the Spanish Crown’s efforts to colonize, evangelize and defend the northern frontier of New Spain. The San Antonio Missions are also an example of the interweaving of Spanish and Coahuiltecan cultures, illustrated by a variety of features, including the decorative elements of churches, which combine Catholic symbols with indigenous designs inspired by nature."
Of all the San Antonio missions, Mission San Juan Capistrano is unique in that it was never fully finished, although it was operational. Nevertheless, visitors can see the overall plan of the mission, even if its potential was never fully realized, since it was simply placed in an area that left it too exposed to Indian attacks to ever be a solidly secure settlement.
Photographers LOVE this mission most of all because its east-facing bell tower allows for some spectacular photographs in the early morning or late-evening light.
From the Handbook of Texas Online: (
visit link)
"SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO MISSION.
San Juan Capistrano Mission, formerly the East Texas mission of San José de los Nazonis, was renamed in 1731, when it was moved to the site of present San Antonio twelve miles from the Alamo.
San Juan Capistrano did not make as much progress as did the other San Antonio missions because of its exposure to frequent Indian attacks and the fact that lands allotted to the mission were not sufficient for its horses and cattle and the raising of the required crops. In 1762 San Juan Capistrano owned 1,000 cattle, 3,500 sheep and goats, and a horse herd of 100.
Construction of a separate church was begun, but it was never completed, and services had to be held in a large room in the monastery.
The buildings of the mission standing today have no sculpturing, but the walls are thick and the rooms commodious. Most of the original square remains within the walls, offering an authentic picture of the mission plan.
San Juan Capistrano was transferred from the College of Santa Cruz de Querétaro to the care of the College of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Zacatecas in March 1773 and secularized on July 14, 1794.
In 1934, as part of a public-works project, some of the Indian quarters and the unfinished church foundations were unearthed.
During the 1960s the chapel, priests' quarters, and other structures were rebuilt.
The mission complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and since the 1980s has been operated and maintained by the National Park Service as part of San Antonio Missions National Historical Park."