Descriptive Essay On California

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Recommended: Architecture of the California Missions. University of California Press

There are 21 missions near the California coast along the El Camino Real (King’s Highway) extending 650 miles, established from 1769-1833. I joined our local church visiting six of the 21 mission churches last weekend. Not only a religious tour but also I learned so much about California history – the Old World (Spain) attempt at colonization, the Pacific connection between Central America, Philippines and Mexico and Alta California.
Common to the mission church ground is the statue of Junipero Serra, a Franciscan priest who led the way. We learned a little bit of story about this soon to be sainted Apostle of California: Blessed Junipero Serra. Another common characteristic of the mission is the architecture that includes adobe walls, tile roof, long and curved corridors, patio and gardens. Unique to the mission churches is the interior, which include exposed wood beams and flowers, river of life motif paintings in pastel color. What is unique about the mission churches is the …show more content…

Here we see Our Lady of Sorrows above the altar (the only Lady of Sorrows center piece above a Californian altar). We walked the grounds and saw the unique archeological ruins of the old mission complex.
Our next stop was the mission and Pro-cathedral San Luis Obispo. It’s one of the oldest missions, founded in 1772. It is in the middle of a college town. There was a beer festival, and music when we visited, hence the performers in this picture.
We then travelled to the remote and second least visited Mission La Purisima in Lompoc. It was donated to the State of California and became a part of the State Historic Parks. Surrounded by natural wilderness, just the same way as it was when it was first built, Mission La Purisima is one of the most originally preserved Mission. With the additional adobe buildings preserved with original artifacts, La Purisima is now a living history

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