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1772
Built from about 1772 to 1815 at the center of a fortified plaza
San Francisco de Asís was established in the early 18th century. Initial construction began around 1772 and was completed in 1815 by the Franciscan order. The church was the center of a fortified plaza, which protected it against Comanche attacks.
The walls
Beehive buttresses and an adobe roof on closely spaced vigas
The church is about 120 feet long and shaped like a cross, with distinctive beehive-curved buttresses at the ends of the transepts. The roof is adobe laid on planking supported by timber vigas, set closer together than is usual in Spanish colonial buildings. A pair of bell towers flanks the entrance.
Every year
The community still plasters the church with earth each year
In 1967 the archdiocese replaced the roof and the ceiling beams, installing replicas of the original corbels, and the doors were replaced with copies of the original design. The original sanctuary woodwork was left intact. The community and parishioners gather annually to plaster the church with earth.
“...one of the most beautiful buildings left in the United States by the early Spaniards.”
Georgia O'Keeffe, describing the church
Painted
A subject for Georgia O'Keeffe, Ansel Adams and Paul Strand
San Francisco de Asís was the subject of several paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe and photographs by Ansel Adams, Paul Strand and Ned Scott. The Taos Chamber of Commerce calls it one of the most photographed and painted churches in the world. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970.
Day 3, afternoon
It comes after San José de Gracia Church, Las Trampas. Then Taos Plaza.
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The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article San Francisco de Asís Mission Church, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.