Mission San Luis Obispo, California

The mission in San Luis Obispo is named after Saint Louis, the bishop of Toulouse, France. It was founded by Junipero Serra on September 1, 1772, the fifth of the twenty-one California missions. Serra chose the area for a clean creek running nearby and for the friendly natives, the Chumash people. The Spaniards called the area La Canada de los Osos, in English "Valley of the Bears." The valley was pockmarked with small holes where the grizzlies would dig up roots to eat. In 1772, the other four missions were facing starvation, so Serra sent some people to hunt the bears for meat. They managed to collect nine thousand pounds of meat (salted or smoked to preserve it). They also traded meat with the Chumash for edible seeds. The mission flourished until secularization in the mid-1830s. The mission property still functioned as a church, but the other parts of the mission were converted to a school, a jail, and a courthouse. The mission was restored in the 1930s and still serves as a parish church in downtown San Luis Obispo. 

The exterior has the bright whiteness of many missions with the bells built into the main body of the church (no separate bell tower).

Mission San Luis Obispo

The back entrance

The museum has a room dedicated to Chumash history and culture.

Display on native culture

We were amazed to see that some of the ceiling tiles were used for art projects, painting images like the mission on the insides. 

Pictures of the priests and items made from the mission

Music played a big part in the mission and some books and instruments are on display.

Music from the mission

Mural of the Chumash lifestyle

After secularization, immigrants moved in. Some of their clothing and items are on display.

A different sort of residents

A lot of artifacts from the church are on display or recreated in the museum.

Recreation of the altar

Triptych

The missionaries taught many crafts that they plied themselves.

Various work items

Dining room

Original doors of the mission

The church follows the usual style, with a long nave and an altar, though here the saintly bishop is on a side, not in the center above the altar.

Main altar

Ceiling

Bishop on the side

View down the name from the altar

Stations of the cross

Outside are some fun decorations.

Guidance to get to the next missions

State bear in the fountain

An old-west style house

The mission is in the heart of downtown, so it is easy to get to. We arrived early and spent some time in the local library a few blocks away.