MISSION SAN GABRIEL ARCÁNGEL

This Roman Catholic mission, which is still active today, was founded by Spanish Franciscans in 1771. This is the fourth of 21 missions founded in California. It is dedicated to the Archangel Gabriel, patron saint of the Pueblo of Los Angeles. Its Moorish architecture was designed by the missionary Antonio Cruzado, who was also responsible for the first orange plantation in California in 1804. Cruzado is buried in the San Gabriel Arcangel Mission. Legend has it that the mission's founding expedition met with hostility from the Tongva Indians, but that one of the priests presented them with a painting of the Virgin, whose beauty immediately inspired peace in the Indians. This painting, called Our Lady of Sorrows, is now on the left of the altar in the mission sanctuary. In the 19th century, the mission lived on agriculture, exploiting the labour of the Tongva Indians considered inferior and forcibly Christianized. Visit the small museum in the adobe house built in 1812, which was once used as a dormitory and library. You will see relics of the mission, manuscripts and religious objects from the 19th century. It is also possible to visit the interior and exterior kitchens of the former mission, the wine cellar, water tanks and the cemetery.