Mission Santa Barbara - Tourist Attractions

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Mission Santa Barbara
updated: Jul 24, 2010, 10:00 AM

By the Dedicated Staff

Beautiful Mission Santa Barbara, considered the crown jewel of the Franciscan missionary effort, is probably the most-visited tourist attraction Santa Barbara has to offer.

We checked in with a bona fide Mission expert. Goleta resident Elizabeth Werhane has visited all of the missions in the California chain founded by the Franciscans back in the 1700s - and here's what she had to say about Santa Barbara's special attributes.

"If you've seen all 21 California missions, as I have, you realize the Santa Barbara mission is special for many reasons. One, as the ‘Queen of the Missions', it's visually stunning. Few of the missions have such interesting and grandiose architecture. There's a reason it attracts so many painters and photographers.

"Second, it's an active part of the community. Some missions are tucked away and quiet with a stuffy old museum feeling. Old Mission Santa Barbara is still an active Catholic church, hosts I Madonnari and Fiesta events, and overlooks impromptu soccer and Frisbee games on the adjacent rose garden. It's not just part of our history; it's part of our lives."

Keeping that advice in mind, here are our top reasons to visit Mission Santa Barbara. You'll be joining a noted crowd - among the Mission's famous visitors are Nancy Reagan, Queen Elizabeth, Babe Ruth, Albert Einstein, President Theodore Roosevelt and Jimmy Durante.

For the peace and quiet. If you happen to be touring when a busload of tourists arrive, this may not be the experience you have. But if you visit on a weekday, or on an offseason weekend, there's a good chance you will have moments of solitude and silence, especially along the courtyard garden, in the cemetery, and within the chapel itself. The super-historic structure, original construction date 1786, boasts thick adobe walls and its religious purpose inspires a certain silent reverence. There is a formal retreat center on site if you are inspired to stay awhile.

To view the gardens and plants. Though the Sacred Garden was not part of the original construction of the mission, its beautifully maintained sun dappled courtyard is filled with blooming flowers and tall palm trees. Various cactus varieties line the walkways leading to the cemetery, where the giant Ficus tree in the middle of the holy ground is a focal centerpiece. In front of the Mission are many great places to take a photograph to remember your visit, including in front of the Moorish fountain. We watched a boy take his family's picture there recently... instead of telling them to "say cheese," he told them to "say missionary"!

For an event. Every year, the Mission is host to a busy schedule of public events, including the annual blessing of the motorcycles, the I Madonnari chalk art festival on Memorial Day weekend, and the opening night of Fiesta on the first Wednesday in August. Local families gather on the nearby Mission Park lawn, just across the street, to watch fireworks on the fourth of July, and a Christmastime nativity display with real animals in late December is fun for children. Of course, the Mission is still a working Catholic church, so there are regular mass services.

For the art and architecture. All it takes is a look at the chapel façade to know why fourth grade girls everywhere want to build the Santa Barbara Mission for that California mandated history curriculum project. (Fourth grade boys don't seem to care so much about whether their mission is pretty.) With its pink paint and Roman accents, the neoclassical influence on the building is clearly evident. The Mission has undergone several reconstructions, including after the 1925 earthquake that destroyed most of Santa Barbara. The interior art could benefit from provision of additional background information, but the chapel paintings and wall décor are particularly religious and interesting. Saint Barbara, the mission namesake, is depicted in three statues in the Mission museum.

To better understand the coastal Native American experience after the Missions were founded. The conversion of the coastal Chumash and other California Indian tribes to Christianity, and the devastating impact that European diseases had on Native American populations, is not without controversy. Those who converted and moved to the Mission grounds became Mission Indians and worked on huge infrastructure projects on the Franciscans' behalf. It's worth taking a walk off the main mission grounds, across the street and up the hill toward Alameda Padre Serra, to see the water delivery and aqueduct ruins that were built by the Indians. Building the stonework was clearly labor intensive, backbreaking work. There are a few Chumash artifacts in the mission tour; another good source of information and artifacts is the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, located less than a half-mile from the Mission, on the left hand side of Mission Canyon Road.

To learn local and state history. You can take the Mission's self-guided tour for $5, which feels a little overpriced but keeps the doors open. Guided tours are offered on Thursdays and Fridays only - get more information here. To learn the background, the simple "story of Mission Santa Barbara" provided with the self-guided tour, offers a historic overview. A great pre-read is the Mission's page on Wikipedia, found here, and provides a very detailed look at the founding by Padre Lasuen, whose name graces a street not far from the Mission walls. The artifacts and photographs showcased in the last few rooms of the tour give an idea of the Spartan life lived by early immigrants to California, including the mission padres. Its worth noting that when the mission system was taken over by Mexico in the 1830s, Santa Barbara was the only Mission that the Franciscan padres continued to inhabit - even then, people found it hard to leave here.