Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Mission San Miguel Arcángel

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Founding date
  
July 25, 1797

Area
  
1,619 m²

Opened
  
1821

Phone
  
+1 805-467-3256

Mission San Miguel Arcángel

Location
  
775 Mission Street San Miguel, San Luis Obispo County, California 93451

Name as founded
  
La Misión del Gloriosísimo Príncipe Arcángel, Señor San Miguel

English translation
  
The Mission of the Very Glorious Archangel Prince, Sir Saint Michael

Patron
  
Saint Michael the Archangel

Nickname(s)
  
"Mission on the Highway" ...   "The Unretouched Mission"

Address
  
775 Mission St, San Miguel, CA 93451, USA

Hours
  
Open today · 10AM–4:30PMTuesday10AM–4:30PMWednesday10AM–4:30PMThursday10AM–4:30PMFriday10AM–4:30PMSaturday10AM–4:30PMSunday10AM–4:30PMMonday10AM–4:30PM

Architectural style
  
Queen Anne style architecture

Similar
  
Mission San Antonio d, Mission San Luis Obispo d, La Purisima Mission, Mission San Rafael Arcángel, Mission Nuestra Señora d

Profiles

Mission san miguel arc ngel


Mission San Miguel Arcángel is a Spanish mission in San Miguel, San Luis Obispo County, California. It was established on July 25, 1797 by the Franciscan order, on a site chosen specifically due to the large number of Salinan Indians that inhabited the area, whom the Spanish priests wanted to evangelize.

Contents

The mission remains in use as a parish church of the Diocese of Monterey. After being closed to the public for six years due to the 2003 San Simeon earthquake, the church reopened on September 29, 2009. Inside the church are murals designed by Esteban Munras.

The mission was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and was named to a National Historic Landmark in 2006.

Features

  • The Mission Arcade, a series of 12 arches, is original. The variety of shapes and sizes was planned and the Mission was known for this arcade.
  • The first chapel on the site was replaced within a year of its construction by a larger adobe chapel, which burned in the 1806 fire.
  • The current mission church was built between 1816 and 1818. It is 144 long, 27 feet (8.2 m) wide, and 40 feet (12 m) high.
  • The cemetery adjacent to the church holds the remains of 2,249 Native Americans listed in the Mission's burial records.
  • The painted walls inside the church are the original artwork by artist Esteban Munras and other Salinan artists.
  • Mission bells

    Bells were vitally important to daily life at any mission. The bells were rung at mealtimes, to call the Mission residents to work and to religious services, during births and funerals, to signal the approach of a ship or returning missionary, and at other times; novices were instructed in the intricate rituals associated with the ringing the mission bells.

    History

    Father Fermín Lasuén and Father Buenaventura Sitjar founded the mission on July 25, 1797, making it the sixteenth California mission. Its location between Mission San Luis Obispo and Mission San Antonio de Padua provided a stop on the trip that had previously taken two days. A temporary wooden church was built with living quarters. The site was picked as it was close to a Salinan Indian village called Vahca. In 1798 the small chapel was replaced. In 1816 to 1818 a new church was constructed with a tile roof and courtyard.

    Mission San Miguel Arcángel land sold off after the Mexican secularization act of 1833. The William Reed family lived in the buildings until 1848. Then the mission was closed and decay started. In 1841 the last Franciscan left San Miguel.

    In 1859 the Mission was returned to the Catholic Church. But with the buildings all in ruins, no priests were assigned to the return mission. Parts were rented to a some small businesses. In 1878 the Church reactivated the mission and priest were again living at the mission.

    References

    Mission San Miguel Arcángel Wikipedia