California Missions 2021

The California Missions hold a significant place in North American History and Development. Originally, an out reach to the Native peoples for spiritual, cultural, and technology expansion. The motivational direction came originally from the King of Spain, and then from various branches of the Catholic Church. The plan was to build up the central farm and workshops and religious training for ten years and then turn the operation over to the then trained Native Population. Unfortunately this never occurred for various reasons. After Mexico gained independence they decided to disband the Mission Churches of Alta California, and many fell into ruins. Abraham Lincoln restored these former church properties (at least the larger church grounds) to the Catholic Church about the time of our Civil War. By then many of the farms and structures had fallen to ruins. Once the roof bar tiles were re-purposed, the Adobe (mud) brick walls soon crumbled. There are 22 Mission Churches and all are either restored or had been in continuous use. They are a delight to visit. Karen and I decided to visit them from the most Southerly (San Diego) to the most northerly (Saloma) in geographical order. On the video slide show you are about to watch, you will see each (most of) Mission is introduced by a painting done about 1910 by a famous Norwegian American Painter, showing how they appeared then. You will discover the most Missions have been brought back to life, most as near as possible to their original configurations, art, furnishings, construction, and decorations as possible. I was particularly interested in the Bar Tile Roofs, Karen in the wall and ceiling decorations. We were both surprised at the high level of some of the art and beautiful central gardens. Much love had and has been displayed in these restorations. Many had museums attached and are very educational. We spent about two weeks visiting about two to three most travel days. We want to share this visit with you through these (1,050) photographs and hope you also will be inspired to your own visits... David and Karen Langsather; Salem, Oregon (6/2021)