Mission Concepcion

Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña
The church of Mission Concepcion
Shown within Texas
Basic information
Location San Antonio, Texas
 USA
Geographic coordinates 29°23′25″N 98°29′30″W / 29.390318°N 98.491799°W / 29.390318; -98.491799Coordinates: 29°23′25″N 98°29′30″W / 29.390318°N 98.491799°W / 29.390318; -98.491799
Affiliation Roman Catholic
Architectural description
Architectural style Spanish Colonial
Completed 1731
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Added to NRHP April 15, 1970
NRHP Reference no. 70000740
Designated as NHL NHL
Type Cultural
Criteria ii
Designated 2015 (39th session)
Reference no. 1466
State Party  United States
Region Europe and North America

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.[1] 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."[2]

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.[3] 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.[4]

Solar alignment

The western entrance to the church is aligned to the sunset in such a way that an "annual double solar illumination event" occurs every year on or around August 15, the feast day of the Assumption of Mary.[5][6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Barr, Juliana (2007). Peace Came in the Form of a Woman: Indians and Spaniards in the Texas Borderlands. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 131.
  2. ↑ Edmondson, J.R. (2000), The Alamo Story-From History to Current Conflicts, Plano, Texas: Republic of Texas Press, p. 224, ISBN 1-55622-678-0, OCLC 42842410
  3. ↑ Bell, Wayne (1971), National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Mission Concepcion (pdf), National Park Service
  4. ↑ "Celebrating the history of San Antonio's missions: Long-ago view of Concepción is highlight of night", San Antonio Express-News, October 17, 2015, p. 1
  5. ↑ "Rare solar illumination", My San Antonio News, 14 Aug 2017
  6. ↑ Note: The same solar alignment also occurs on or around April 27.
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