Mission San Juan Bautista
add photos2 Reviews for Mission San Juan Bautista
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"Fun with the Family"
Founded in 1797, this is one of the largest and most impressive of all California mission churches, with three aisles and a glorious, 40-foot-high ceiling of grayed beams in traditional vigalattia construction. Light floods the cathedral, making vibrant the rust- and blue-painted decoration, much of it created by a Boston sailor who jumped ship in Monterey and worked at the mission in exchange for room and board. The animal prints in the floor tiles were created while the tiles dried in the sun. Before and during the Sunday masses, local families mingle and chat near the giant entry doors and the soft singing voices of the congregation float out the door into the sunshine of the plaza.
Surrounding the cathedral are a series of open rooms housing a museum of early Indian, Spanish Colonial, and Victorian artifacts and one of the best collections of Mission furniture in the world. You will also see a small kitchen from which 1,200 people were fed from iron pots in an open fireplace.
The mission gardens are cool and lovely, with old cacti, aromatic lavender, and climbing roses. Behind the church, under ancient olive trees, are buried over 4,000 Native Americans and some early pioneers. Look in the mission shop for educational books and small gifts for kids.
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2 families found this helpful
"A must see mission"
We have visited a lot of missions and usually take our family to the Carmel one. A friend recommended that we stopped at that one and that's just what we did when my parents came over for a visit. It is a very interesting mission. What this mission has that others that I have visited do not is the surrounding historic homes and saloons. We felt we were back in the old days! My oldest daughter was in 4th grade then, learning American History: here you have it! You are visiting history.
A must see.
The gift shop carries items of great quality.
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