San Xavier Del Bac

Father Kino founded the Catholic mission San Xavier Del Bac in 1692. The location of the mission is 9 miles south of downtown Tuscon Arizona.Construction on the current church that is still present to this day began in 1783 and was finished in 1797. The Mission was susceptible  to many raids by the Apache Indians. After the original church was destroyed, the construction of the new church had began. In 1783 Franciscans father  Juan Bautista Velderrain and Juan Bautista Llorenz constructed the current building that is still there today.The church is the oldest intact European structure in Arizona.You can still visit this church to this day.  200,000 people every year come to visit from all over the world and is widely considered to be the finest example of Spanish Colonial architecture in the United States. The Mission church became a national historic landmark in 1963.

  

Present Day San Xavier Del Bac