Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña, or Mission Concepción, one of the most heavily visited missions in San Antonio, has twin bell towers and colorful frescoes.
Located at 807 Mission Road, just south of downtown, Concepción is the northernmost mission of the four in the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. Its church, completed in 1755, is said because of its durable construction to be the nation’s oldest unrestored stone church.
Originally established in Nacogdoches County in 1716, Concepción relocated to San Antonio in 1731, and is believed to have had up to 300 indigenous residents at its peak. It was a walled-in complex with living quarters, a granary, convento, workshops and an acequia, or irrigation ditch, with nearby farmland.
The mission was the site of a battle for Texas independence — an Oct. 28, 1835 skirmish nearby, known as the Battle of Concepción.
According to a UNESCO World Heritage nomination adopted for the San Antonio missions in 2015, a well that provided drinking water at the mission is marked by a “modern above-grade stone well, west of the convento.” The church has “excellent examples of two technological features that were important to the Franciscan missionaries” — quality acoustics, and solar geometry to illuminate the interior worship space on liturgically significant days.
In its convento, Concepción has a painted image, conserved in 1988, of a red and yellow sun with a face, known locally as the “Eye of God.”
Key events at Mission Concepción include a solar illumination in mid-August. It also will be the site of a “Restored by Light” event on Sept. 8. Projection technology will be used to replicate the appearance of the church facade as it is believed to have looked in the 1700s, with colorful geometric designs painted on a white exterior.
Mission Concepción celebrates Mass on Sunday with a 10 a.m. bilingual service and one in English at noon.