Spanish Missions San Antonio, Texas

Posted bymatt93111Posted inAmateur Photography, America Photoblog, Explore Texas, Mission Concepcion, Mission Concepcion San Antonio, Mission Espada, Mission Espada San Antonio Texas, Photography, San Antonio Cathedral, San Antonio Missions, San Antonio Missions Photography, San Antonio Photography, San Antonio Texas, San Fernando Cathedral, The Alamo, The Alamo San Antonio

I thought i’d share a few photos from a recent trip to San Antonio. San Antonio is around 250 miles south of DFW. It was founded in the early 1700s as a Spanish Mission and Outpost. Whilst visiting you can definitely see the influence still of the Latin style architecture all around the city. San Antonio is very famous for it’s 5 Spanish Missions, these were built to try and spread Christianity to the indigenous people of Texas. They are now UNESCO World Heritage Sites and open to visitors all year round.

Without a doubt the most famous of these missions is the Alamo. During the Texas war of Independence the Mission was taken by the Texians but swiftly surrounded by the Mexican Army under General Santa Anna. After a brutal 13 day siege they were eventually overrun and defeated, They were shown no Mercy by the Mexican Army and all were killed. Despite this many of their names live on forever in Texas, people such as Davy Crockett, William Travis, Jim Bowie and many more. Interestingly there were also 10 Englishman who fought and died at the Alamo, inside they have the flags of all nations & U.S States represented who fought and died there.
This is Mission San Jose. As you can see it’s pretty big, this one was quite unusual as it had a perimeter wall around it which was still intact.
This Mission had some very impressive stonework on the outside.
This is Mission Concepcion. It’s the oldest unrestored Stone Church in the entire of the USA. Inside it has an impressive nave and frescos on the walls. It was also a location of another significant battle during the Texas Revolution.
This is Mission San Francisco de la Espada, it’s probably the smallest mission out of the 5 but still impressive nonetheless. This Mission has a slightly violent history though with the initial settlers spreading smallpox to the local natives, whom responded in a less than diplomatic way driving them out of the area altogether.
Mission San Juan Capistrano is the final mission i’ll mention on here. All of these missions were built along the San Antonio River, presumably to make it easier to get things / people there logistically. I like the bells on these final two buildings.
Strictly speaking this isn’t actually a mission, it’s San Fernando Cathedral. It’s a very striking building though and one of the oldest Cathedrals in the USA and the oldest in Texas. The Cathedral was built by settlers from the Canary Islands, inside there are images of the patron saint of these islands. As well as this inside the Cathedral are the supposed remains of William Travis, Jim Bowie & Davy Crockett which were interred here after the battle at the Alamo.

Published by matt93111

Howdy, my name’s Matt. I'm originally from England but now live here in the Great State of Texas. Since moving here I thought it would be fun to try something new and enter the world of photo blogging.

6 thoughts on “Spanish Missions San Antonio, Texas”

  2. I’ve always thought it interesting that there were so many of these missions in such a small area. At least today with our modern transportation system, it seems that these are not very far from each other. I suppose at that time these did not seem to be so near each other. I remember visiting these with my wife all my young kids many years ago.

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    1. Yeah that’s a good point, very strange how close they are all to each other. But yeah thankfully now it’s only a short drive and not a day walk. Amazing place to visit though !

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  4. Pingback: San Antonio, Texas – Lone Star Law

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