Mission San Fernando, Rey de España
1. Historical Museum
The museum exhibits a pictorial history of the mission, pottery, santos, trade and commerce items, together with an extensive collection of early mission baskets given by Marie and Mark Harrington.
2. Mayordomo’s House
The foreman of the mission ranch (which was 121,542 acres) lived here. In 1806, the mission produced 12,868 bushels (mostly corn and wheat). In 1819, the livestock (principally cattle, sheep and horses) numbered 21,745. San Fernando became a thriving industrial center supplying tallow and soap, hides and shoes, cloth and blankets, wine, olive oil and iron work to other foundations.
3. Convento
The convento was thirteen years in construction. Completed in 1822, its famous corridor has twenty-one Roman arches, four foot adobe walls and the original iron grilles. In addition to the artistically and authentically refurbished rooms, there is El Teatro de Fray Junipero Serra which offers visitors a choice of several historical films on early life at the old missions, through the benefaction of the Fritz Burns Foundation.
4. The Madonna Room
In the Madonna Room are gathered several hundred statues, plaques, paintings and depictions of the Blessed Mother. The room itself, probably a carcel or prison in provincial times, was refurbished and opened to the public in 1992 through the generosity of the William Hannon Foundation.
5. West Garden
The West Garden features rare and beautiful trees, an old wine vat, grinding stone, two bells from the Ezcaray Collection (cast in Spain and bearing the dates 1686 and 1720) and the Archival Center for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
6. Statue of Fray Fermin Francisco De Lasuen
San Fernando Mission, the seventeenth in the chain of outpost along Alta California’s El Camino Real, was established by Fray Fermin Francisco De Lasuen (1736-1803) on September 8, 1797. A native of Vitoria, Spain, Lasuen served as Presidente of the California Missions for eighteen years. He is buried at San Carlos Borromeo Mission, Carmel.
7. Old Mission Church
The fourth Mission church is an exact replica of the earlier edifice erected between 1804 and 1806. Measuring 166 by 35 feet, its walls are seven feet thick at the base, tapering to five feet at the top. The interior furnishings were used in the earlier church. There were 3,188 baptisms, 2,449 burials and 842 marriages at San Fernando between 1797 and 1846. The 16th century gold-leafed reredos, a memorial to Eugene Hannon, was installed in 1991. Pope John Paul II visited the church in September of 1987.
8. Composanto or Cemetery
The Cemetery is the final resting place for several thousand neophytes and early settlers attached to the only mission named for a King of Spain.
9. Statue of Fray Junipero Serra
The statue of Blessed Junipero Serra, the proto Presidente of California Missions, sculpted by Dale Smith and fabricated at the Studio America Foundry in memory of Eugenie B. Hannon, was dedicated on November 8th, 1992 by Father Noel Francis Moholy, O.F.M., Vice Postulator for the Serra Cause.
10. Workshops
The Workshops recreate the atmosphere of the carpentry, pottery, saddle and blacksmith shops, together with the weaving room. The furnishings are authentic, with most of them dating from the provincial era.
11. East Garden
The East Garden features a flower shaped fountain copied from an original in Cordova, along with a rich assortment of rare trees, cacti and seasonal flowers.
12. Archival Center
The Archival Center serves the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Its Historical Museum is open to the public on Monday, Thursday and Friday afternoons, from 1:00 to 3:00 P.M. Researchers are accommodated by appointment. Mounted on the porch entry to the Archival Center are the six Piczek Tableaus, which portray the geographical history of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Designed by Isabel and Edith Piczek, the mosaics were fashioned at Pietra Santa, Italy.
[Layout of the Mission's property with directions to points of interest.]
Marker can be reached from San Fernando Mission Boulevard east of Sepulveda Boulevard.
Courtesy hmdb.org
