Church

Navigation for San Miguel Arcángel:

• Mission Home
• History
• Map
• Entrance
• Museum
• Garden
• Residence
• Arcade
• Church
• Cemetery

The present church started construction in 1816 and finished in 1818. The walls are six feet thick and the church is 144 feet long, 27 feet wide, and 40 feet high. The interior decorations are original and still show bright colors (the pictures are the best I could do with a flash). The ornamentation on the wall behind the altar was designed and, with Indian help, executed by Spanish artist Estevan Munras in 1824. (More info in history....) The pigments were of local origin. The statue to the left of center is St. Francis of Assisi and to the right of center is St. Anthony, his follower.

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. [Note: In 2012, when I took the panorama pictures, the statue of St. Francis of Assissi was missing and out for restoration. The statue in the panorama is a cut/paste from a picture taken in Feb 2011.]

Picture taken 2:15pm 22 Apr 2001

At the top of the altar is the All-Seeing Eye of God. Saint Michael, of course, adorns the center of the altar.

On the right wall is a quaint old pulpit. The dove, hanging from the sounding-board, is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. 

Picture taken 2:15pm 22 Apr 2001

At the back of the church is the choir loft.

Picture taken 2:15pm 22 Apr 2001

The end of the tour is outside at the cemetery next to the church...