April 11, 2013
San Juan Bautista, where to begin? It is a place of religion and much history. You can read about the history of the Mission here at their official web site.
The cornerstone was laid in 1803, the mission was dedicated in 1812 (although interior work continued till 1817).
This is a El Camino Real bell. You can also see it in the photo above. That is pronounced, reeeee al (in Carol pronunciation). The story of the El Camino Real is found at this Wikipedia page. It is an interesting piece of California history.
The museum occupies rooms that were the padre's living quarters and the work areas for the Native Americans. This area is quite large and extensive, art decorates the wall of one of the rooms.
This beautiful collection of baskets and food storage containers was behind glass, a photography challenge. They are exquisite, I was delighted with the capture so I could share with you.
The "kitchen", also behind glass, photo shot through a window. The kitchen served 1,200 people three meals a day. This photo only shows a portion of the kitchen. That is ONE huge fireplace. Almost a walk in, many cook pots going all at the same time. 1,200 meals going at once. That is a bunch of food! Hard to imagine, amazing.
This music room had some beautiful pieces, including the sheet music, open, waiting for a skilled musician to sit down and play - -
But, what is this? Sony Too and I did a huge zoom and found, a bug, looks a bit like a cricket?
In the beautiful gardens:
The entire complex in graphic mode, including the Mission, museum and the State Park can be seen in this photo, can be found at the web site GeologyCafe.com. Take a moment and click over to the image, it is very interesting. Pay attention to the El Camino Real, the San Andreas Fault and the Old Mission building and how they all line up and relate to each other. You can stand at the edge of the fault and look down on the land next to the mission. Like standing on a cliff.
The cemetery lies on "the north side of the church and contains the remains of over 4,000 Christian Native Americans and Europeans." (Quote found here.) As far as I could tell only one grave was marked, the rest were white crosses, not 4,000 crosses tho.
Inside the church:
This is just a flavor of the mission, if you happen to be in the area, do visit, it is quite amazing.
In the immediate vicinity there is also the San Juan Bautista State Historic Park which contains four main historic museums: the Plaza Hotel, the Zanetta House/Plaza Hall, the Plaza Stables, the Castro-Breen Adobe, as well as a blacksmith shop, the historic jail, and an early American settler’s cabin. . We visited some of the state park while we were there, I'll share a bit with you soon.
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1 comment:
Wonderful photos - they're very fascinating, Carol. Wish I could be there! You did a great job.
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