The Spanish Missions in California

We visited two Spanish missions in California. There are 21 Spanish missions in California so a California Mission tour would be a significant undertaking.

We visited the Carmel Mission just south of Pacific Grove. The mission was built in 1771. The ostensible purpose of the Spanish missions was to spread Catholicism and to educate the indigenous population of California (i.e. the American Indians) in the ways and culture of the Europeans. In practice, the missionaries often subjugated the Indians and conscripted them to construct the mission buildings. Most missions served double purposes: as a religious structure to further the purposes of the Roman Catholic Church; and, as a garrison to house Spanish soldiers who were protecting the mission and Spanish commercial interests in the region.

Today the missions offer a window into the past. Much of the religious art and iconography have origins in 18th century Europe. But mingled among the European artworks are native American artifacts that show the influence of the indigenous people.

The second mission that we visited was Mission San Juan Bautista, founded in 1797. San Juan Bautista has two secular claims to fame. The mission sits directly on the fault line of the San Andreas fault. As we visited we made sure that we weren’t straddling the fault line just in case we experienced an earthquake. Fortunately, we didn’t.

The mission’s second claim to fame is in some small way equally earthshaking. It served as the setting for Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. The movie centered around a Victorian bell tower constructed in 1865. By the time the movie was made, the tower had fallen into disrepair. It was demolished in 1949 eight years before the movie was released. Hitchcock recreated the tower for the movie. The original bell tower still stands as you can see in the photo below.