San Antonio Missions a UNESCO World Heritage Site in San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio Missions a UNESCO World Heritage Site in San Antonio, Texas

The San Antonio Missions is so much more than the Alamo! The San Antonio Missions National Historical Park became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2015. The area contains the largest collection of Spanish colonial missions in North America! The park contains five separate missions that are operated independently. These five missions are the Alamo (Mission San Antonio de Valero), Mission San Juan, Mission Espada, Mission San Jose and Mission Concepcion.

In this video we visit two Missions. Mission San Jose and Mission Concepcion.

In the 1700’s this area was considered new Spain and the spanish government sent priests to this area of Texas to settle and protect the territory. The priests brought indigenous people here and tried to create a spanish community and their ‘mission’ was to convert these people to Catholicism.

Mission San Jose is considered the Queen of the missions and this is where the Main Visitor Center is located. This mission was established in 1720. This is the largest mission in San Antonio. At it’s height it was a sanctuary and community for 300 Native Americans.

Mission Concepcion is located 3 miles of downtown and was constructed in 1755. This mission remains true to the original design and is the oldest unrestored stone church in the US & the best preserved Spanish colonial structure in the US.

I have many more videos coming soon on fantastic things to do in the San Antonio Area! Be sure and subscribe!

You may also be interested in:

Check out Swifty Travels on Social Media at

Music Provided by Epidemic Sound: Try one month free on me!:

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:33 Visitors Center
01:34 Mission San Jose
09:58 Transportation Options
12:18 Mission Concepcion

#Texas #VisitTexas #sanantonio #missions

[luismolina]

Nice beautiful video I like it from San Antonio Good job . And this video Swifty travel thanks to share.

[thegallivanthropologists]

I only got to see San Jose when I was there, so, we have to go back . To my defence, it was in 2010.
We are excited, as a father-son team of Anthropologists to be doing a World tour of 390 UNESCO World Heritage sites including this one soon. Cheers and thanks for sharing your footage of this amazing place. I hope you consider sending us any recommendations you have and let us know if you want to link up for possible future collabs. Cheers! - Turtle and Bear

[CactusAtlas]

We've actually both been to theSan Jose Mission. I went while living in Texas and Glenn for a wedding years and years ago. Small world! 😄

[Moona]

Thank you for sharing your trip its beautiful !!! I have a question.... Im a women traveling solo, do you think I can grab an uber back and forth ? Im just a scary cat

[moisessaavedra]

Are all the missions free entrance? If not, where can I buy the tickets?

[TheJournalofanExplorer]

Oh wow! It’s so beautiful - I forgot parts of America were a part of the Spanish Empire

[icantthinkofaname]

There is a part of me that is conflicted about the missions. They are truly beautiful structures that should be preserved as they are an important part of history.

However, you can't deny the unease that comes when some gloss over the immense pain and trauma that came with the forceful conversion of the natives peoples. Their language, culture, and history stripped from them by overzealous Spanish invaders. Imagine all the knowledge that was lost due to the ignorance and sense of superiority that Spanish had over the native population in "removing their savage nature". Granted, not all Natives were resistant to the Spanish and actually welcomed their culture/beliefs whether that be for protection from raider groups or genuine interest in Catholicism. Still, many Natives perished from disease which gives the missions, at least to me, an eerie and disturbing air.

Growing up in San Antonio, you always hear about the missions and how they are a sense of pride for the city, but you never really hear about our native ancestors (such as the Coahuiltecans) and their beliefs/traditions apart from a few asides that they were converted to Catholicism.

[miker]

Thanks for sharing your adventures.
Pardon my critiquing. Acequia is pronounced; ah-say-key-ah