Historic sites
Tumacacori Mission Tympanum
Over the nave entrance to Tumacacori Mission National Historic Site in Arizona is this arched tympanum.
San Xavier Gallery Finial
A detail of the 1797 San Xavier Mission in Arizona, this finial blocks the end of the rooftop gallery rail.
San Xavier Mission Dome
Still active, San Xavier Mission in Arizona has been photographed by just about anyone who considers themselves a photographer. But is is still possible to find new views and make strong images of this 1797 church.
San Xavier Facade
The symbolic, hierarchical facade of the Catholic mission church contrasts with the sensual curves of a tree in a reflection of the differences between the Spanish colonial culture and that of the natives it was imposed upon.
Fort Matanzas
The small but powerful Fort Matanzas blocked the back door to St. Augustine. It’s coquina walls absorbed cannon balls, but its remote location in the swamp made it an undesirable post. Its name comes from the location across the river where hundreds of French Huguenots from a “trespassing” colony were slaughtered in 1565.
St. Francis
This church in Golden, New Mexico is still in use in the small ghost town.
Castillo de san marcos
Gun Deck
Built in the 1680s to replace an earlier wooden fort and enlarged in the 1730s, this St. Augustine, Florida landmark is one of a handful of classic stone forts in the United States. It guarded the northern limits of the Spanish empire enduring two sieges and served during the Indian Wars and Civil War.
St Mark
In the choir loft of San Xavier mission church, the four corners contain images of the evangelists. This one is unusual, for no saint has a black cat as an attribute. But the natives who built, decorated and used the church didn’t know what a lion was, so they painted the big cat they did know and St. Mark has a black panther on his shoulder.
Pecos Mission
The view across the chancel from the vestry doorways of the ruins of eighteenth-century Pecos Mission in New Mexico revels in enfilade, but doesn’t quite have the mathematically correct alignment of a European palace.