Transcript Missions of San Antoino

Missions of San Antonio
Mission Nuestra Senora de la
Concepcion, c.1755
Mission Nuestra Senora de la
Concepcion
Missions of San Antonio
• Mission San Antonio de Valero
(The Alamo)
• Mission San Jose c.1720
• Mission San Juan Espada aqueduct
• Mission Najera
• Mission Concepcion c. 1717
• Mission Espada c. 1690
They came from Spain
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A little history lesson………..
• Spain's expulsion of the Moors and its
decision to support Columbus's voyage of
discovery, both of which took place the
same year, opened a new world of
posibilities. In the Americas, Spain soon
began to use its soldiers to extend its
domain, find wealth, and spread the
Catholic faith.
• After Cortés's conquest of Mexico in 1519,
the Spanish moved north in search of
further riches and potential converts.
• Though they failed to find gold and silver
as they had farther south, in present-day
Arizona and New Mexico they established
missions to work with peaceable American
Indians and presidios (forts) to control
hostile ones.
More history …………….
• In the late 1600s the French, already in
Canada, explored the Mississippi River to
the point where it emptied into the Gulf of
Mexico.
• This expansion posed a threat to Spain's
territory and Spain responded by
extending its settlements into what is now
Texas, thereby creating a buffer between
the wealth of Mexico and French
Louisiana.
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• The Spanish established themselves in
Texas by using the same system they had
established in Arizona and New Mexico.
• Through missions, presidios, and an
adjoining civilian community (a villa),
missionaries and soldiers Christianized
and Hispanicized the native population.
• The Spanish hoped that with the help of these
now-loyal Indians a relatively small number of
men would be needed to defend the empire's
frontier.
• -Though created to observe and control French
colonies in the Mississippi Valley and central
Gulf coast, these operations later opposed other
rivals.
• Between 1763 and 1776, the main challenge
came from the English and their Indian allies;
after 1776, from the United States and the
Comanches
• One base for Spanish missionary and
military operations in Texas developed
around San Antonio.
• Two missions and a presidio were
established in the San Antonio River valley
between 1718 and 1720, and the Spanish
added three new missions in the valley in
1731.
• A single presidio protected the five
missions, which were closely grouped for
two important reasons.
• First, the fields required irrigation and a
system could only be set up along the
valley's upper ten miles.
• Second, the threat of attack from northern
Indians was constant, and the missions
needed to be near the presidio and each
other for mutual protection.
• The missions were important to
agricultural production. Each had a ranch
for raising the sheep, goats, and cattle that
supplied necessities like meat, wool, milk,
cheese, and leather.
• The entire cattle industry, from ranching to
the driving of cattle across long distances
to markets, was developed in Mexico
during the two centuries prior to the
establishment of San Antonio.
• Spanish ranching as it was practiced in
Texas formed the basis for the American
cattle industry, which drew many of its
original cattle from the mission herds.
• The Spanish also brought to the San
Antonio valley a specialized method of
farming that used irrigation.
• This system, which was extended by later
settlers, was the foundation of the San
Antonio economy for more than a century;
portions of mission-built irrigation systems
are still in use today in San Antonio and
other parts of Texas.
Espada Aqueduct
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• The mission contributed to the
economy in other ways.
• It established necessary industries such
as weaving, iron working, and
carpentry; these were important to the
maintenance of the entire military and
political structure of the eastern portion of
the Spanish American frontier.
• Mission-trained artisans and workers
provided a principal source of labor and
finished goods in a region at the far end of
a long and expensive supply line reaching
up from the south.
• The goals of the church and the
Spanish Crown overlapped.
• Because there weren’t enough Spaniards
to colonize so vast an area, the plan was
to turn the lands over to the new converts
who would develop the missions into
towns, where they could live as Spanish
citizens.
Native peoples came to the
missions for diverse reasons
• Some were coerced
• Sought safety from their enemies
• Other responded to the missionary
message
• Nomadic tribes may have found the safety
of mission life, with its steady supply of
food and a life that was less difficult and
precarious.
• However, it was less appealing for sedentary
farming communities like the Hopi, who lived in
greater security on high mesas.
• In 1680, decades after the Spanish conquest of
New Mexico, Pueblo tribes, under the leadership
of the Tewa medicine man Pope, forced the
Spanish out and destroyed many of their
missions.
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• The mission contributed to the economy in
other ways.
• It established necessary industries such
as weaving, iron working, and
carpentry;
• These were important to the maintenance
of the entire military and political structure
of the eastern portion of the Spanish
American frontier.
• Mission-trained artisans and workers
provided a principal source of labor and
finished goods in a region at the far end of
a long and expensive supply line reaching
up from the south.
• All Indians were expected to work at a
variety of tasks such as farming,
ranching and carpentry.
• Each mission had similar routines – they
traded or sold goods to nearby villa and
presidio, sometimes making great profits
on food stuffs and cattle (3000 in a typical
herd) which were raised mainly for their
hides.
• Small Pox killed many native Americans.
In 1739, at Mission San Jose, of the 300
natives 251 died.
Catholic Missionary Orders
• Dominican
• Jesuit
• Franciscan
• Were looking for spiritual treasure in the form of
converts to Christianity.
• They followed the gold-seeking Spanish who
were using native allies to explore and lay claim
to the increasing area of the Americas.
The Missions **
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Brought control of the nearby Indians
Introduced Christianity to Indians
Brought “modern” technological skills
Established ways of life necessary for
meeting the ruling Spanish on their own
terms
• Protection from other more aggressive
tribes in the region
Mission Nuestra Senora de la
Concepcion, c.1755
Mission Concepcion
• Was home to a number of distinct nomadic
tribes collectively known as Coahuiltecans.
• Franciscan Order
• Organized like a small village, with storage
buildings, a workshop and a church at its core.
• Friars lived in cubicles in the convent that
flanked the church, and mission Indians lived in
housing built along the inside perimeter wall of
the complex.
• Beyond lay orchards, fields of crops and ranches
for grazing livestock.
Church Design
• Ornate seventeenth-century Spanish Baroque
style.
• Baroque: ba·roque
a period of arts, visual and musical from about
1600 – 1750, marked by elaborate
ornamentation and efforts to create dramatic
effects.
Gaudy, verging on excessive, bizarre;
extravagant.
Construction Materials
• Adobe and rubble
• Then faced inside and out with stone
• Lastly, coated with plaster
Catholic Traditional Floor plan
• From a bird’s-eye view, formed a cross.
• A long central hall (Nave). This is the part of the church
were people sit. It looks a little like an upturned boat.
Latin for boat is Navis, where we get the word ‘Navigate’
and ‘Navy.’
• The Nave leads from the Southwest entrance to the alter
at the Northeast end
• Then is intersected by a second, horizontal hall
(Transept).
• The place where they meet, called The Crossing, is
crowned with a Cupola to let in light.
• Narthex is the entrance
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Garden Courtyard of Mission
San Jose
Adornment
• The mission church was adorned on the
interior and exterior with frescoes
• Frescoes: The art of painting on fresh,
moist plaster with pigments dissolved in
water. When plaster dries the painting is
bonded to the wall.
• Examples: The Last Supper by Leonardo
da Vinci; Sistine Chapel by Michaelango
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• On the exterior, borders were painted
using geometric and floral designs
emphasized the building’s architectural
parts, outlining windows and creating the
fictive columns that frame the openings in
the bell tower.
• The flat expanses of wall on the towers
were given an overall pattern that
resembled Spanish tile work, with each
square containing the floral cross inside a
circle.
If you visit today….
• The mission still contains some fragments of the
frescoes that once enlivened the interior with
color and religious imagery.
• The most unusual of these is a sun with rays
painted on the ceiling of the library. Although the
sun is often used as a symbol of God in
Christian art, it is a little surprising here to see
the mustachioed face (perhaps a mestizo, a
man with mixed Spanish and American Indian
ancestry) peering back at us. See: “Eye of God”
Check it out…….
• Locate the lanterns and crosses at the top
of the tower.
• Observe the slight variances in the
symmetry of this building.
• A buttress is on the right corner, the
mission wall extends to the right, and
windows vary slightly in size on each side
of the building.
Towers
• What was the function of the two towers
on the front of the church?
Bell Towers
• They were BELL towers, used to summon
the community
Mission Concepcion
• Compare how the mission’s façade looks
today with how it once looked.
• Why is it no longer white with painted
designs?
Mission’s Exterior
• It was originally white with red, blue,
yellow and black patterns. Now it is
exposed rock.
• The plaster and designs weathered away.
Why were the Missions built?
• Why did the Spanish build the Missions in
Texas?
• The Spanish built missions to stop the
French from expanding their colonies into
Texas.
• To convert American Indians to Christians.
What was the purpose of this
Building?
• To worship and …….
Other functions
• To raise food
• Train American Indian workers and
artisans
• Produce goods: leather saddles and cloth
Why did Indians live at the
mission?
• Some were forced
• Others converted and wished to be near
the church
• Others sought safety from their enemies.
What buildings were often part of
the Mission?
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The church
The granary
Workshops
Houses for soldiers
Living quarters for friars and Indians
Why were the missions constructed
like European-style churches?
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• The Spanish wanted churches like those
in Spain.
• Let’s look at the Obradorio façade of the
famous Spanish pilgrimage church of
Santiago do Compostela in Spain.
Santiago de Compostela in Spain
Mission Conception
• This frontier church was
constructed with local building
materials and artisans.
• Although some Spanish artists
worked on the mission, most of
the builders were American Indian
who learned European
construction techniques from the
Spanish.
What does the sun detail
represent?
• It may represent the face of God
• What is unusual about this depiction of
God?
• The face has a mustache like that of a
man of both Spanish and American
ancestry.
How does this church design
symbolize Christian beliefs?
• There are many crosses on it symbolizing
Christ’s suffering and death.
• Throughout the design there are
references to the number three for the
triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Find design elements that suggest
the number three.
• The triangle over the door
• The three openings above the
door
• The façade which has three major
parts – the center flanked by two
bell towers.
Next week’s Assignment
• Begin reading “Common Sense”
by Thomas Paine.
Introduction to page xxvi
• Be prepared to discuss it !