Ventura: Mission San Beunaventura...

                                               

Now surrounded by downtown Ventura, Mission San Buenaventura, read its history here ...

that actually includes such things as relocating nuns, earthquake, tidal waves and pirates, was built starting in 1782 by Franciscan Priest and the labor of the Native Chumash tribe, including a elaborate ditch system to bring water to the mission, surrounding gardens and orchards.

Through the wonderful gift shop and "ticket booth"...

a little museum room does a great job of letting it sink in just how old a church built and used  just a few years after the Revolutionary War is, complete with wooden bells that "dinged" or "thunked" with a small bit of metal inside.

 Here, posters annoucing the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the arrival of the Francisan priest to the shores of California have now become relics themselves...

Even the rafters, an addition to the original church or possible an addition to an addition, are old, very old...

Outside, a courtyard is formed by the museum/gift shop, the chapel...

and the Rectory...

We were there the Saturday after Good Friday, and early enough to observe the clean up from the Holy Week's festivities...

and the preparation for the celebration of Easter Sunday, the red being traded out for white...

Inside the oldest part of the existing church... 

the chapel follows the style and decore' of other mission church down the coast of California and across the Spanish territories of Arizona and New Mexico...

 the chapel at the Carmel Mission...

the alter at Mission San Barbara 

and even the ornate sanctuary of  Mission San Xavier Del Bac, almost at the Mexican border in Arizona...

Which we visit a very long time ago, when the children were much younger and I took a little break from the crowds and sketched the exterior, complete with mismatched and unfinished towers...

Yes, I have a thing for churches, all sizes. Intrigued by the beautiful important missions as well as the more primitive village churches captured here, from the High Road to Taos...