Mission Dolores

San Francisco's Mission Dolores

The formal name is Mission San Francisco de Asis, but it has been known as Mission Dolores since the first mass was held in 1776.  Named after a small stream nearby, Arroyo de Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, the mission was the sixth to be established of California's 21 Missions. Mission Dolores is unique in that it is almost completely intact as it was originally constructed. While buildings around it collapsed during San Francisco's 1906 earthquake, Mission Dolores' four foot thick adobe walls remained standing and unharmed. The original redwood logs supporting the roof remain in place to this day lashed together with rawhide.
  

The ceilings have been repainted over the years but they remain true to the
original Ohlone Indian designs which were painted with vegetable dyes.
The main alter was created in San Blas Mexico in 1796.

The side alters were also made in Mexico but installed much later in 1810.

The Mission's simple baptistry is still in use today.
Written records have been preserved for
Mission Dolores 28,000 baptisms.

Burials in the adjacent cemetery took place from the time of the Mission's
establishment until the 1890's. 

A sculpture of a contemplative Father Junipero Serra adds
to the peaceful feeling of the old cemetery.