Mission San Xavier--part 2

On the tour yesterday, we learned some really interesting things about the mission which we told about and here are a few more details...in the 1990's, the mission restoration began, and a special team came from Italy. The restoration team has done an amazing job, and I guess the experience of working on such a historical project was so moving, that they left their fingerprints/thumbprints in their artwork...all the blue dots you see in the above photo are the workers' fingerprints...

The photo to the left is looking through an outside fence to another building called the mortuary.

Inside this amazing mission are symbols of different things. There is a rope styled trim that encircles the inside church walls--the rope trim symbolizes the inclusion of all who come into God's church. The floor plan of the church is in the shape of a Latin cross.

There is a statue of the first female saint,  a Mohawk Indian named Kateri Tekakwitha.

Here is another photo of the knave of the mission....

And again, of the sanctuary, which tells the story of Christmas....

Another angle of the sanctuary:

The mission is open to the public 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM daily. There is a small museum there which is very informative and a gift shop as well. The gift shop has Tohono O'odham baskets made right there on the reservation. The mission depends on contributions to help with the restoration. Here is a site that explains more about that....  Mission San Xavier information. We thought this was one of the best road trips we took while we were here. We highly recommend it!