Mission Concepcion

Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña
The church of Mission Concepcion
Religion
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
Location
Location	San Antonio, Texas USA
Shown within Texas
Geographic coordinates	29.390318°N 98.491799°W / 29.390318; -98.491799
Architecture
Style	Spanish Colonial
Completed	1731
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Added to NRHP	April 15, 1970
NRHP Reference no.	70000740
Designated as NHL	NHL
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii
Designated	2015 (39th session)
Reference no.	1466
State Party	United States
Region	Europe and North America

Franciscan friars established Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña (also Mission Concepcion) in 1716 as Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de los Hainais in East Texas. The mission was originally meant to be a base for converting the Hasinai to Catholicism and teaching them what they needed to know to become Spanish citizens. The friars moved the mission in 1731 to San Antonio. After its relocation most of the people in the mission were Pajalats who spoke a Coahuiltecan language. Catholic Mass is still held every Sunday.

On October 28, 1835, Mexican troops under Colonel Domingo Ugartechea and Texian insurgents led by James Bowie and James Fannin fought the Battle of Concepción here. Historian J.R. Edmondson describes the 30-minute engagement as "the first major engagement of the Texas Revolution."

Mission Concepcion consists of a sanctuary, nave, convento, and granary. When originally built, brightly painted frescos decorated both the exterior and interior of the building. Traces of the frescoes still exist on the weathered facade of the building. Experts restored some of the artwork on the interior ceilings and walls of the convento in 1988. The Archdiocese of San Antonio completed another restoration of the mission's interior in 2010 which exposed more frescoes in the sanctuary and nave.

Located at 807 Mission Road, Concepción is the best preserved of the Texas missions. It was designated a National Historic Landmark on April 15, 1970 and is part of San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. In 2015, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization designated Concepción and four other San Antonio missions, including The Alamo, as a World Heritage Site, the first in Texas and one of twenty-three such establishments in the United States.

Gallery

• 
  The area surrounding the mission.
• 
  The portal to the church.
• 
  Interior of the church.
• 
  Stairwell adjacent to the church leading to the former Father President's office
• 
  Interior fresco upon the ceiling of the old library in the convento.
• 
  Architectural drawing from HAER

See also

• Spanish missions in Texas
• Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo
• Mission San Juan Capistrano
• Mission San Francisco de la Espada
• Espada Acequia

External links

• San Antonio Missions National Historical Park
• Mission Conception parish
• Mission Conception entry at Handbook of Texas Online
• Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. TX-319-A, "Mission Senora de la Purisima Concepcion, Church, 807 Mission Road, San Antonio, Bexar County, TX", 17 photos, 3 color transparencies, 7 data pages, 3 photo caption pages
• HABS No. TX-319-B, "Mission Senora de la Purisima Concepcion, Convent, 807 Mission Road, San Antonio, Bexar County, TX", 3 photos, 1 color transparency, 4 data pages, 2 photo caption pages