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San Antonio Missions National Historical Park preserves four of five Spanish missions in San Antonio, Texas.
Introduction to the San Antonio Missions
The San Antonio Missions, a UNESCO World Heritage site, were fortified villages each with a church, farm, and ranch. They were established by the Franciscans in the early 18th century and the city of San Antonio grew around them. At the missions, Franciscan friars would gather Native Americans, convert them to Catholicism, and teach them to live as Spaniards. This helped maintain Spanish control over Texas.
Visiting San Antonio Missions National Historical Park
Admission to the missions is free (as of May 2025), and they’re typically open daily from 9am to 5pm. The visitor center is located at Mission San José. There are daily ranger-led programs as well as a hike and bike trail connecting all five missions, including the Alamo, which is not part in the park. Please be aware that the missions are active Catholic parishes. Check the official website for more information.
In this post, I’ll start with the mission closest to San Antonio and work my way south.
Misson Concepción
Mission Concepción is the closest mission to downtown San Antonio. It was originally founded in 1716 in eastern Texas during an expedition led by Domingo Ramón (d. 1723) and Louis Antoine Juchereau de St. Denis (1676-1744). It was named the Mission of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception of the Hanais (Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de los Hainais).
After a series of setbacks and several moves, it was relocated to its present location in 1731. The name changed to the Mission of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception of Acuña (Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña), honoring Juan de Acuña y Bejarano (1658-1734), the 1st Marquess of Casa Fuerte and Viceroy of New Spain at the time.
The mission sat behind a walled compound, and Native American families lived in rooms built along the interior of the walls. Natives were taught to live as Spaniards, learning the Spanish language and several important trades and skills.
On October 28, 1835, the Battle of Concepción, lasting only 30 minutes, was fought there. It’s described as “the first major engagement of the Texas Revolution.” Mission Concepción was designated a National Historic Landmark on April 15, 1970. It’s still an active Catholic parish today.
Church at Mission Concepción
The church was built between 1740 and 1755. It’s the oldest unrestored stone church in the entire country. The entrance is through the adjacent convent.
The church was built by master craftsmen brought in from Mexico and is a great example of Spanish Colonial architecture. It incorporates Moorish, Renaissance, Romanesque, and Gothic features. The walls are 45 inches thick, and the roof is vaulted with a dome.
The church at Mission Concepción was the most peaceful and most beautiful of the four mission churches. The interior is darker than the others, giving it a more spiritual feel.
Frescoes at Mission Concepción
One of the most important features of Mission Concepción are the original frescoes. When the mission was built, all of the exterior and interior walls were painted with brightly colored frescoes. Today, only four rooms contain these frescoes.
The frescoes inside the church were exposed during a renovation that took place in 2010. The frescoes visible in the convent were restored by experts during a renovation in 1988.
Most of the frescoes were decorative in nature while others were symbolic. The most famous fresco is a possible depiction of God as a mestizo. It can be found on the ceiling of a room in the convent.
Mission San José
Continuing south is Mission San José, which is the largest and most well-known of the San Antonio Missions. It was established on February 23, 1720, by Franciscan missionary Antonio Margil (1657-1726) with the permission of the the Spanish governor, the Marquis de San Miguel de Aguayo, José de Azlor y Virto de Vera (1677-1734). The official name is Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo.
The creation of Mission San José was necessary because Mission San Antonio de Valero, better known today as the Alamo, became overcrowded with refugees from East Texas missions that had previously closed.
The mission was secularized and its lands given to Native Americans in 1794. Mission activities ceased in 1824, but the church continues to function as an active Catholic parish.
Walls of Mission San José
While the first structures at Mission San José were built of brush, straw, and mud, those buildings were quickly replaced with stone structures and surrounded by thick outer walls for defensive purposes. The entrance to the mission nearest the visitor center contains a bastion at the intersection of two of the walls.
Once inside, there’s a wide open space filled with grass and dotted with a few trees. Rooms built on the inside of the walls could house about 350 Native Americans. Just as in the other missions, Natives were taught to live and worship as Spaniards, learned the Spanish language, and several useful trades in order to live independently of the mission.
Church at Mission San José
The church is on the north side of the complex . It was constructed between 1768 and 1782 and earned Mission San José the nickname “Queen of the Missions”. The dome and roof collapsed in the 1870s, and the church underwent a major reconstruction in the 1920s and 1930s.
The façade features several carvings and statues, including a cross representing Jesus Christ; St. Joseph holding the infant Jesus; St. Dominic and St. Francis; Our Lady of Guadalupe (the Virgin Mary); and St. Joachim and St. Anne holding the infant Mary. Directly in front of the entrance are a few graves.
The interior of the church has a vaulted nave topped with a dome. Behind the altar is a colorful altarpiece adorned with statues.
Rose Window
The rose window illuminates the sacristy and sits on the south wall of the church. The sculptor and significance of the window is unknown, but it’s considered a wonderful representation of Baroque art in North America.
The rose window was sculpted in 1775. According to local folklore, the sculptor was Pedro Huizar. He dedicated the window to his fiancé, Rosa, who lost her life at sea making the journey from Spain to meet him. Rosa’s spirit is said to have visited Pedro at the window on the day it was finished.
Convent at Mission San José
Behind the church are the remains of the convent. It housed missionaries and lay assistants. In 1785, there were nine rooms downstairs and five rooms upstairs. Benedictine monks started a major reconstruction of the convent in 1861 but it was never completed.
Granary at Mission San José
On the northwest corner of Mission San José, next to a large gate, is the granary. It was first mentioned in 1755 and had the capacity to store enough maize to supply the mission for an entire year.
Kitchen at Mission San José
The kitchen is attached to the granary. It’s decorated with examples of some of the vegetables cultivated at the mission.
Mill at Mission San José
Finally, outside the walls to the north of the mission is the first mill in Texas. It was originally built around 1794 in an effort to add wheat to the traditional Native American diet.
The mill produced flour for not only Mission San José, but also other communities in the surrounding areas. Today’s structure was built on the site of the original mill in the 1930s.
Map of Mission San José
Mission San Juan
Mission San Juan is next. It was originally established by Franciscan friars in eastern Texas as Mission San José de los Nazonis in 1716. The mission was ultimately unsuccessful, and whatever could be transported was moved to the present location in 1731.
The mission was re-established as Mission San Juan Capistrano and had several problems in its first years. Epidemics of smallpox, measles, and other diseases ravaged the Native American community, Apache and Comanche raids terrorized the mission, and political problems arose.
By 1762, 203 Native Americans lived at Mission San Juan. It was a self-sustaining community where residents learned the Spanish language and a variety of valuable trades. Production of iron tools and textiles as well as preparing hides were among the trades practiced. There were also orchards and gardens outside the walls for cultivating maize, beans, sweet potatoes, squash, and sugar cane.
Mission San Juan was secularized on July 14, 1794, converting to a church-based community. It was attended by the priest from Mission Espada until around 1813, followed by the priest from Mission San José until 1824. After that, the mission was mostly neglected until 1840, when services resumed under diocesan priests.
A neighborhood made up of the descendants of mission inhabitants sprung up around Mission San Juan and grew steadily starting around 1855. The church was administered by the Claretians as well as the Redemptorists until 1967, when the Franciscans returned. It continues to function as an active Catholic parish church.
Church at Mission San Juan
The first church at Mission San Juan was a chapel made of brush and mud. It was replaced by a stone church, completed around 1756, that no longer exists.
The current church, which was built in 1786, was meant to be temporary. It was built over part of the foundations of a granary and went through a major renovation in 2012.
Convent at Mission San Juan
Just south of the church are the remains of the convent. Franciscan missionaries lived in cells behind the arcade and cooked and ate in rooms on another side.
Priest’s Quarters at Mission San Juan
To the north of the church is the priest’s quarters. It was built in 1968 using stone recycled from earlier mission walls. It’s still active and is closed to the public.
Ruins of the Third Church
Construction of a third larger church began on the east side of the mission compound in 1772. The project was abandoned in 1786 due to a lack of labor. The new church probably would have included a vaulted ceiling over the nave and a dome over the sacristy.
Mission Espada
Mission Espada is the furthest south of the four missions at San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. It was originally founded by Franciscan friars in 1690 as San Francisco de los Tejas near present-day Weches.
San Francisco de los Tejas was the first mission in Texas but experienced several setbacks over its first few years, including a smallpox epidemic, drought, and hostilities with Native Americans. The mission was abandoned on October 25, 1693, re-established on July 5, 1716, and abandoned again in 1719.
On August 5, 1721, the mission was re-established yet again as San Francisco de los Neches. On March 5, 1731, it moved to its current location and was renamed San Francisco de la Espada, or Mission Espada for short. A friary was built in 1745 and the church was completed in 1756. 1,033 people were baptized there between 1716 and 1773.
At Mission Espada, Native Americans learned the Spanish language as well as a variety of vocational skills. Life within the mission was meant to mirror that of a village in Spain. It was the only mission in San Antonio where bricks and tiles were made. The skills taught proved to be invaluable well past the colonial years.
In 1794, Mission Espada began the process of secularization and transformed to a church-based community. Each of the remaining 15 families at the mission received land and shared supplies and equipment.
In 1826, a Comanche raid saw the cornfields decimated and several livestock killed. That same year, a fire broke out in the kitchen destroying several buildings, but the church and community both survived. The church at Mission Espada continues to function as an active Catholic parish.
Espada Aqueduct
Finally, north of the mission is the Espada Aqueduct (Espada Acequia). It was built between 1731 and 1745 by the Franciscans. It brought water from the San Antonio River via an acequia (irrigation) system to the farmlands of Mission Espada.
The Mission Espada acequia system is a 15 mile network that irrigated about 3,500 acres of land. It’s the most complete and original acequia system in the park and is still in use today. The best place to see the aqueduct and system is in a small section of the park near Mission San Juan.
