Just outside the Visitors Center is a lovely garden. It is not the original garden, but a carefully recreated replica of a typical mission garden from that time.
Aside from the section that has native Sonoran Desert plants, it contains vegetation that was found in mission gardens everywhere in the 1600s.
As I walked out the back of the Visitors Center and stood at the trailhead, I saw a mound just to the left of the trail that runs from the Visitors Center to the front of the church. Beneath this mound are the foundations of several houses that were once occupied by Tohono O'odham Indians who lived at the mission compound.
As I continued down the trail, I arrived at the front of the church. It was once painted in bright colors, and faint traces of the paint are still visible under the window cornice. The columns were painted red, the capitals were painted yellow with black markings. The building's capitals have strong Egyptian influences.
The statue niches were once painted blue, and these niches are an example of Roman architecture. The are two other statue niches. These niches are Moorish in design because of the pointed arches.
The bell tower to the right of the front entrance appears to be in ruins, but in reality, it was never finished. It looks almost exactly the way it did in 1848, when the church was abandoned. The bell that hangs inside is not the original bell, but a replica.
After entering the church, it becomes apparent that the church was built in the form of a long hall. Many of the churches from that time were built in the form of a cross, but Tumacacori deviated from that design. There is no evidence that there were ever any pews, most likely parishioners stood or knelt during services. Next to each side wall are four indentations where lit candles were placed. Above the candle placements are statue niches.
Immediately inside the front entrance, to the right, is the baptistry. The adobe walls here are nine feet thick in order to support the massive bell tower directly above. There is a stairway that leads up to the tower and the entrance to the choir left, but it is closed to visitors. Evidently it is unsafe to use.
Back at the front entrance of the church, I saw where the choir loft used to be by the ruined support pillars, one on each side of the nave. Also, up above, the entrance to the choir loft is still in place. The entrance is at the top of the inaccessible stairs. Some pictures that are on display in the church show what the choir loft may have looked like in its day. It shows the two support pillars, now in ruins, rising up on each side and forming an arch above the nave. It shows the lower half of the pillars being brightly painted. The picture also shows a wooden rail running along the edge of a concrete platform where the choir once stood. The window that let sunlight into the choir loft is still there. It is directly above the church's front entrance.
As I ascended the steps that lead from the nave to the sanctuary, it became obvious that many of the original colors still adorn the walls. There are also picture frames and stenciling still visible. the paint is faded here too, but it is more visible than anywhere else in the church. Tha altar at the back of the sanctuary still bears evidence of the magnificence it once possessed. There is an outline of the artwork that was once behind the altar that looked sort of like a fireplace in its upper portion and the lower portion looked like something out of ancient Israel with a painting of an arched entryway flanked by columns on both sides. The upper portion is still plainly visible has has deteriorated very little over the years. It looks like all sorts of colors were used to paint the sanctuary; blues, yellows, reds, golds and several other colors, too. This must have been a magnificent place at one time!
Off to the side of the sanctuary, on the right, is the sacristy, where priests kept clothing and articles used in their ceremonies. They also documented and stored records of important events in this room.
In the next edition of this blog, I will take you on a tour of the outside of Tumacacori Mission. I will tell you what I saw in the mission compound, which is still quite extensive.
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