Mission Santa Clara de Asís

Navigation for Santa Clara de Asís:

• Mission Home
• History

Mission Santa Clara de Asís was founded 12 January 1777 (8^th in order) by Blessed Junípero Serra. The mission is named for Saint Claire of Assisi. The Indian name was Thamien. The original mission was moved many times due to flooding of the Guadalupe River. The third church was destroyed by earthquake in 1818. The fifth, and present, site began construction in 1822. In 1926 the mission church was again destroyed; this time by fire. It was rebuilt in 1929 and now serves as the Santa Clara University chapel.

I toured this site in February 2012 and will have pictures posted ASAP. In the meantime, please enjoy this rotating panorama of the inside of the Santa Clara Church...

Below you should see a rotating panorama of the complete inside of the Mission Church. You should be able to click on the panorama to stop the rotation at any point and then drag the mouse left, right, up, or down to see any specific area. If you have a mouse wheel, it should be able to be used to zoom in and out. If one or more of these behaviors does not work click on the full screen icon (top right corner) and try the behavior again. If you are at full screen, press the ESCape key to have the panorama return to this page.

Location

The mission is just South of the San Jose airport. The address is 500 El Camino Real; located on the Santa Clara University campus. If Southbound on U.S. 101 exit at De la Cruz Blvd. and proceed South (keep to the right) until you reach El Camino Real (about 1.5 miles). Turn left to the mission (about half a mile). If Northbound on U.S. 101 you can proceed to De la Cruz Blvd as above or you can take Interstate 880 South [Note: Could be West. Will correct when actually there.] for 2 miles to the El Camino Real (Highway 82) exit. Proceed to the right off the freeway to the mission (about a mile) (California Landmark 338).

See this Mission from a satellite then switch to a detailed map using Google maps.

Or, if you'd prefer a topological map...

Contact

• Open daily 8am-6pm (office Monday-Friday 1pm-5pm). [Note: MissionTour tries to keep this information up to date but cannot guarantee its accuracy as this is not the official Mission website. If planning a drive to the Mission please contact them directly to get the latest information in order to avoid disappointment.]
• Mail: Mission Santa Clara, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA 95053
• Phone: (408) 554-4023