Mission Plaza
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Mission Plaza |
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We're going to start the tour from Mission Plaza. If you managed to park in the Mission parking lot then this will likely be the end of the tour for you.
Picture taken 2:15pm 8 Jul 2001
Walking along the plaza from Broad Street toward Chorro Street your first view of the Mission is the colonnade outside what used to be the padre's quarters (now the parish hall and gift shop/museum). Take a close look at the columns. Square openings and round pillars are used. This is unique to this Mission. Also, note the level of the colonnade floor. That used to be ground level when the Mission was built.
If you continue down to the bear fountain at Chorro you look up at the Hannon statue of Blessed Serra and the cross that denotes the Mission. (Don't forget to rub Blessed Serra's toe for luck.)
 Picture taken 2:25pm 8 Jul 2001 |
 Picture taken 2:20pm 8 Jul 2001 |
 Picture taken 1:35pm 8 Jul 2001 |
Go up the stairs from the plaza to get to
the church and museum. At the top of the stairs hang on to the handrail and
look up. Note the mission bells (named, left to right: Sorrow, Angelus [Gloria],
and Joy). Bells were important to the missions (see history for more
info 
).
[Side Note: In early Oct 2001 regular bell-ringing was suspended except
for special occasions. A crack in the center bell (named "Angelus" [more
properly called "Gloria"
I'm told]) had worried caretakers and the bells were examined by a National
Park Service bell expert. The cracks are not new but
the Mission was leaning toward safety for the bells. More: 28 Oct 2001
the Los
Angeles Times reported
that Angelus would be replaced and moved to the museum and only the two smaller
bells rung in the meantime. Finally: Shortly after the LA
Times article,
the crack was deemed to not be spreading and Pastor Fr. Jerry Maher directed
bellringers to resume ringing all three bells regularly before Saturday evening
and Sunday services as well as on special occasions.]
Picture taken 2:20pm 8 Jul 2001
Want to hear the bells? At the 2004 California Missions Studies Association conference concert two bell sequences were rung by Bell Ringer Matthew Herrea. The first is a performance of the traditional "Call to Worship." The second is the Angelus [Gloria] bell being rung in the nine-ring Angelus pattern. This is the first recorded ringing of the Angelus pattern at San Luis Obispo since 1921. I've linked them here (if the link doesn't call up your sound program right click the link and save the file locally to play when you have the software)...
 Call to Worship (WMA format, 264K, 1:43 min) |
Angelus Pattern (WMA format, 73.5K, 26 sec) |
In 2005 the Mission put five new bells into service. They are shown here (starting from the left in this picture - note that the bell names are in honor of the first five Missions)...
Left to right: Carlos, Diego, Antonio, Gabriel, and Luis The bells were blessed by the Bishop of Monterey (Most Reverend Sylvester D. Ryan, DD) 30 April 2005. They were first placed into service 3 May 2005 with the ringing of the Angelus pattern. Two days later on 5 May 2005 they rang the first Call to Worship pattern at a Mass celebrated by Father Derek Hughes. A Festival of the Bells concert was held at the Mission 13 August 2006. The New World Baroque Orchestra played several pieces of music from the mission era and the local Salinan Indians participated in blessing the bells and performing traditional songs. The concert ended with a demonstration of several patterns and songs played on the new bells (see links below).
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Carlos (D-Pitch
26.56" diameter 429 pounds)  Picture taken 2:25pm 13 August 2006 |
Diego (B-Pitch
31.25" diameter 748 pounds  Picture taken 2:25pm 13 August 2006 |
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Antonio (E-Pitch
23.63" diameter 297 pounds)  Picture taken 2:25pm 13 August 2006 |
Gabriel (F#-Pitch
21.5" diameter 224 pounds)  Picture taken 2:25pm 13 August 2006 |
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Luis (A-Pitch
19.75" diameter 158 pounds)  Picture taken 2:25pm 13 August 2006 |
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Blessing of the people  Picture taken 3:20pm 13 August 2006 |
Indian blessing of the bells  Picture taken 3:20pm 13 August 2006 |
Indian children performing traditional songs  Picture taken 3:50pm 13 August 2006 |
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 Call to Worship Pattern (WMA format, 250KB, 1:37 min) |
Angelus Pattern (WMA format, 233KB, 1:39 min) |
De Profundis (WMA format, 189KB, 1:11 min) |
La Mariposa - The Butterfly (WMA format, 216KB, 1:23 min) |
Sing of Mary (WMA format, 241KB, 1:32 min) |
Gloria Pattern (WMA format, 271KB, 1:45 min) |
Before going into the church or museum take a walk around the upper plaza. There is a nice garden and small fountain there.
Picture taken 1:35pm 8 Jul 2001
Before exploring the church, let's take a trip through
the museum...
Skip the inside for now, let's look at the garden
area...
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Navigation for Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa: Mission Home :: History :: Map :: Plaza :: Museum :: Church :: Garden :: Fiestas :: Santa Margarita Asistencia |
