Mission Conception

The last mission that we visited on this trip was Mission Conception.  At 250 years old, the church at Mission Conception is one of the country’s oldest original stone churches.  However, much of the Mission today is not standing, so our visit encompassed visiting what we could of what is at least partially standing.  Also, there is one more Mission on the San Antonio Mission Trail, The Alamo.  However, due to the CoVid-19 scare, we did not get to visit that mission on this trip.  I’m glad we got to see what we did, and now, let’s take a look at Mission Conception.

The first thing we noticed on the Mission grounds was technically not truly a part of the Mission.  It was The Quarry, and was the source of the stone for building Mission Conception, as well as Mission San Jose, the previous Mission we saw.  Workers used pick axes to cut lines in the limestone rocks, and bars and wedges to pry up the rocks from the ground.  Stone masters then shaped and finished the stone.  Although the quarry is much, much smaller than quarries we tend to see today, remember this was a quarry from 250 years ago, with all stone removed manually.

The grounds of Mission Conception are primarily in ruins, with a few exceptions.  Along the side of the church, there is an outside corridor (above image).  The corridor runs alongside the rooms of the Convento at Mission Conception – among those are the kitchen (outside ruins), refectory and library, where an example of the art that can be found inside the buildings (image below).  The art is a blend of Christian, Spanish and Native art elements. This art work was restored in 1988.

Here’s a nice view of the front of the church.  Unfortunately, we could not get inside the church, as they are in the middle of renovating it.  These outside walls used to be covered in colorful frescos, but we couldn’t see any evidence of those today.  

As we walked back to the exit, we noticed some other buildings not noted on any maps of the Mission.  I also took an image looking through the doorway of a ruin that spoke to the resiliency of nature, as there is greenery growing where there once was a building.

Enjoy!!