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San Francisco Basilica |
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Navigation for San Francisco de Asís: |
As mentioned on the history page, the large Gothic church built next to the Mission was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. In 1913 construction of a replacement was begun and that was completed in 1918. That church was further remodeled in 1926 and in 1952 the Pope changed its name to the Basilica of Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores). This is the building you see today.
Entering from the side and walking to the middle you see a spectacular nave and apse with a high dome...
[Side note: If you look closely at the right side of the above picture you see a light and under the light is a man at the organ. Had an organ concert while I was taking these pictures and on talking with the organist I learned that the basilica organ is entirely electronic; no pipes or mechanical parts. It produced a beautiful sound and he told me that organists come from around the world to play it.] A closer look at the sanctuary area shows three parts: left, right, and the main sanctuary...
Once you've seen the altar area turn around and look up. The basilica has a special collection of stained glass windows. Many of them represent the chain of missions and Blessed Serra. Others, with largely orange backgrounds show angels and saints and one for Saint Francis. [Note: The orange windows are rather unique. If you have toured the mission at Sonoma you might have stopped at the Cline Mission Museum. If so, you would have seen a similar color window recovered from San Francisco.) Click on any of the pictures for an enlarged display in a lightbox. At the bottom of the lightbox is a button you can click on to start a slide show of all the stained glass windows...
Continue your tour around the inside of the basilica for the various statues and art.
Now, if you are following the tour, go back and see the museum...
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