![]() These quarries, and the production technologies to extract, finish, and lay their stone, became yet another fingerprint on the Spanish Colonial cultural landscape. Used where it was available, cut stone, such as limestone in Texas and sandstone in New Mexico, required the establishment of quarries. Fired brick required access to both good clay and the fuel resources, primarily wood from forested areas, to kiln-fire the bricks. It required the least amount of resources and was most closely aligned with native use of puddled mud. Sun-dried adobe, composed of clay, silt, and sand, is the most common of mission construction materials. In some cases, mission churches reflect the construction materials of the native communities, seen as both a gesture of assimilation and a practical use of local technical expertise. These geometries on the vertical face of the exterior often are translated directly to the horizontal layout of the interior plan.Īvailability of local building materials often dictated the church's construction system. Priests and master-builders used geometric principles and proportional relationships, symbolizing divine order, as design tools in the composition of the principal façade. Like other forms of ornamentation, the principal façade conveys the elements of the church's stylistic language and religious message, but directed outward to the community. At its most elaborate, the principal façade reflects the rich ornamentation of the interior altar screen. The amount of ornamentation in each of these components varies depending on the church. An imposing presence in native communities, the typical principal façade of a mission church has three major components: the entry doorway, the frontispiece that surrounded it, and the bell towers (campanarios) that extend vertically above the rest of the building. The exception to this is the principal entry façade - a critical architectural element that communicated the mission's status and is the focus of the building's exterior ornamentation. The exterior character of many frontier missions is utilitarian as the buildings often served defensive, as well as religious, purposes. The resulting hybrid product reflected priests' attempts to attract and integrate native populations and their representational art forms. In practice, Christian iconography was not always purely applied, but often blended with native symbols and executed by native artisans. ![]() ![]() These icons acted as objects of both inspirational worship and moral instruction. Among these features, the monumental altar screen in the church apse was the focus of elaborate decoration and a canvas of religious symbols, or icons. Priests also used these features to transform the church into a colorful three-dimensional religious textbook for new converts. Sacred ornamentation –figures of saints, altar screens (retablos), paintings, and stencil designs –became important teaching tools. Builders used these features to reinforce individual stylistic expressions using stone, molded brick, plaster, wood, ceramic tile, and pigment. Architectural features –entablatures, pilasters, window surrounds, columns, beams, and surface decoration –were integral to the church designs. Often beginning as no more than a temporary shelter from which to celebrate mass, the church building and later support structures evolved over time as the population of converts grew and resources for construction became available.įor worshippers, ornamentation in mission architecture played two significant functions. At the core of every mission community, regardless of its size, was a church building as its spiritual center. Some mission communities were near dispersed agrarian communities, while others were in the center of the most densely formed native settlements. Missions were located adjacent to established native settlements that also provided labor for mission construction and maintenance. The Spanish government and religious orders established missions to convert existing populations to Roman Catholicism. Missions featured in this travel itinerary are rich cultural landscapes that span the spectrum of mission development from isolated and quickly abandoned chapels to comprehensive, self-sustaining communities covering hundreds of acres. Postcard depicting a float in the "Battle of Flowers" parade in a rally to support restoration of the Alamo (Mission Valero) in San Antonio.
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