My daughter Lisa made a goal to visit all of the twenty-one 18th C. missions that were built "a day's journey by horseback" (or about 30 miles apart) up and down the coast of California. On a recent gorgeous Sunday we had the chance to visit Mission San Miguel Arcangel in the central coast. As a designer who loves color, crumbling & derivative architecture, decorative painting on walls, history and celebration, I found it a stunning place to spend an hour or so.
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a portrait of the patron saint Michael the Archangel hangs on the frescoed walls of the long, narrow church; the walls are the original decorative paintings by Esteban Munras from the 1820's |
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the front entry of the church is simple and austere with a large carved and painted wooden door and quatrefoil windows |
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one of the buttresses on the side of the long, narrow church have helped support it through earthquakes and the harmonic vibrations from the nearby Union Pacific Railway railroad |
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one of the gateposts from the original enclosure of the mission grounds stands proudly today in the California sunshine |
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another massive carved and painted door with a heavy oak lintel opens onto the mission arcade |
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another original gate onto the enclosure that housed and protected early missionaries |
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the stunning altar and surround are heavily decorated by Estaban Munras in 1820 in the Neo Classical excesses he had seen in the magnificent churches in Mexico at the time; it remains today exactly as he finished it |
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this energizing burst appears on the left side of the church alongside the classically referenced blue painted columns |
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the entry to one of the carpentry areas is a brilliantly orange painted arch with stylized flowers; the dado wall with the border of red flowers continues the length of the colonnade |
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closeup of the decorative painting dating from 1820 |
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a display of the implements and tools used in the contraction of the 1797 Mission San Miguel Arcangel |
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Franciscan missionaries in the late 18th Century California |
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by 1820, a total of twenty-one missions had been established along the California coast by the Franciscans; while they are all existing today, Mission San Miguel featured here has the most preserved interior and decorative elements of all the missions |
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a photo taken in 1920 shows the details characteristic of the California Misison style: colonnade of Roman arches, white unadorned exterior, clay tile roofs, deep overhang... these architectural elements are widely used in buildings in California today |
above old photos of
Mission San Miguel are
from the
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