Much like in my first blog, I’ll be showcasing another Spanish mission which had a rather interesting impact on me as a child. When my family and I moved to San Diego to stay with family one of the first free places I wanted to visit was another Spanish Mission, much like the Spanish Mission I had grown up close to and fallen in love with from afar.

Mission Basilica San Diego De Alcalá, is the first missions founded in California and was built around the year 1769. It was commissioned by Franciscan Preist Father Serra, but I couldn’t find out any information on who may have helped design this particular mission.

I love the look of this mission, and despite not being a catholic I find myself drawn to the look and traditional feel that radiates off these sort of buildings. Simplistic beauty made of white stone and open areas within the church and courtyard that are filled with the images of saints and other religious figures. As a child, and hearing that San Diego was filled with old missions, I had to find and seek out the one my Aunt described as one of the first built in the city. And much like the old mission in Okmulgee, It inspired a sense of old-world wonder and fascination that welled up into something that inspired my love for smaller, less grand or elaborate designs, simplistic building designs underlying with the more humble human ideas and virtues.