Just 5 miles away from us is the historic Mission San Luis Rey, one of a series of California costal missions founded by the Franciscans. This one was started in 1798 and the current church was built in 1811, although half the belltower collapsed in 1926 and was reconstructed. The name loosely translates to "Mission of St. Louis the King", for Louis IX, King of France. This, along with its size, gave it the nickname "the King of the Missions".
Across the well-kept grounds from the mission is a long wall, behind which is the old "lavanderia", where people would do their laundry. Going through the gate and down a zillion steps brought us to a brick patio and trough system. I imagine the patio area was a good place to visit with friends while getting a bit of work done.
A couple of the wider troughs have interesting stone heads as fountains. I think this might have been an Indian idea; I am not sure the Franciscans would have approved. But then, they may have been familiar enough with gargoyles to accept this.
Next to the church is a lovely courtyard which is closed to visitors, but viewable from the arched gateway. It houses the oldest Peruvian Pepper tree in California, which was planted here in 1830. Pepper trees get big but not outsized, but it appears that their trunks get thicker and gnarlier with time; by now this trunk is HUGE.
The long galley walk between the garden and the main church houses the museum. The walkway is ceiled with boards that show lots of chop marks from the hatchets that created them. That's a lot of hard work.
The museum is the only place that charges entrance fee, and I thought it was worth it. The Franciscans lost the mission in 1834 when it was "secularized" by Mexico; the Mexican government kicked out the priests and Indians and used the building for military purposes. But in 1865, less than a month before he died, President Lincoln signed the deed that returned it to the Catholic Church.
The museum contains several day-to-day items (like a bag of chocolate beans!), and some really beautiful vestments. All this was made and embroidered by hand. Again, a lot of work.
The church itself is charming. It's beautifully decorated with hand-painted designs. The thickness of the old walls shows in the doorways and windows.
They don't call attention to what is original and what's not, but since the Mission fell into disrepair during its Mexican era, some of it is surely not. But near the door is the baptistry with a statue of St. John that dates from the 18th century. It's behind a gate now for protection, but available to view and appreciate.
And the 14 paintings of the Stations of the Cross along the walls are certainly original. The monks took them down when they left in 1834, then brought them back when the mission was returned to the Church. The paintings are very dark now and they hang high on the wall so it's difficult to fully enjoy them. But that's OK, they weren't really intended as mere art.
The church has 3 alters, a center one and one on each side. The central alter is topped by a statue of St. Louis IX, King of France (the original statue is in the museum), and the life-size crucifix below it is from the 18th century.
The alter on the left is almost as large as the central one except it's just a one-story alter, not a double. It's central figure is a unique statue of Christ - it's the first one we've seen that is articulated. Although it has moveable joints, the guide said that in the 15 years she's been here, the pose has never been changed. She also explained that it has real hair, which apparently is not uncommon for these statues. There is no record of who made this statue, but it's very good.
And the guide also pointed out an unusual feature of this church: in the cheerfully decorated rafters there are painted swastikas.
But the swastika used to be a simple good-luck charm. It wasn't until 1920 that Nazis ruined it. There are occasional talks about changing these but they were well-meant, harmless decorations when they were added, and are now just a part of history.
Outside the church on each side of the door are really old statues of monks. I really like these. I love the Brother Cadfael novels and I picture him looking a lot like this guy.
And to the right of the church is the cemetery. We thought the skull and crossbones over the door was interesting. This turns out to be a common feature for old Franciscan cemeteries, but it may not be original. Disney replaced the whole gate when they filmed here for their TV series "Zorro", so who knows if the original gate had that touch?
The cemetery grounds go on and on, and only the graves around the entrance are old. We found a couple of stones from the late 1800s, but most are more recent. It was nice to see that some of the old graves are tended; they must still have family in the area.
There are 21 Missions along the California coast - can't wait to see the rest of them!
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