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 Mission Concepcion - San Antonio, Texas Posted by:  iconions
N 29° 23.460 W 098° 29.482
14R E 549353 N 3251413
This Mission, constructed in 1715, is located at 807 Mission Road in San Antonio, Texas.
Waymark Code: WMYAQA
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 05/21/2018
Views: 6
The facade of the church, which faces west, has massive twin bell towers and a satisfying breadth Fluted and decorated engaged columns at the entrance door support a simple and steep pediment in which reposes a projecting carved niche with a cross above. The other decorative details of the facade include a small round opening on either side of the pediment, a circular opening immediately above, and two small windows in each of the towers, one above the other. Each of the top stories of the square bell towers has arched openings on four sides, is capped with a pyramidal roof and a small lantern; and each tower has a stone merlon at each of the four corners. The massive limestone walls, heavily buttressed on the sides, are nearly four feet thick and are covered with plaster or stucco. The church has a full cruciform ground plan, with altars in the north and south transepts as well as in the sanctuary at the east end. The nave is roofed by a tunnel vault with transverse reinforcing ribs and over the crossing rises a low dome that is crowned by a lantern.
- Texas State Historical Atlas Entry
Franciscan friars established Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña (also Mission Concepcion) in 1716 as Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de los Hainais in East Texas. The mission was originally meant to be a base for converting the Hasinai to Catholicism and teaching them what they needed to know to become Spanish citizens. The friars moved the mission in 1731 to San Antonio. After its relocation most of the people in the mission were Pajalats who spoke a Coahuiltecan language. Catholic Mass is still held every Sunday.
On October 28, 1835, Mexican troops under Colonel Domingo Ugartechea and Texian insurgents led by James Bowie and James Fannin fought the Battle of Concepción here. Historian J.R. Edmondson describes the 30-minute engagement as "the first major engagement of the Texas Revolution."
Mission Concepcion consists of a sanctuary, nave, convento, and granary. When originally built, brightly painted frescos decorated both the exterior and interior of the building. Traces of the frescoes still exist on the weathered facade of the building. Experts restored some of the artwork on the interior ceilings and walls of the convento in 1988. The Archdiocese of San Antonio completed another restoration of the mission's interior in 2010 which exposed more frescoes in the sanctuary and nave.
Located at 807 Mission Road, Concepción is the best preserved of the Texas missions. It was designated a National Historic Landmark on April 15, 1970 and is part of San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. In 2015, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization designated Concepción and four other San Antonio missions, including The Alamo, as a World Heritage Site, the first in Texas and one of twenty-three such establishments in the United States.
- Mission Concepcion Wikipedia Entry
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