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Xavier del Bac: The mission that survives today was built between 1783 and 1797, which makes it the oldest European structure in Arizona. Labor was provided by the O'odham. An outstanding example of Spanish Colonial architecture in the United States.
The walls of San Xavier are built of burnt adobe bricks made of local clay and fired in kilns where the church’s rear courtyard now sits. The bricks form a shell filled with basalt rock hauled down from hills still visible in the distance. “It’s really a stone building with a brick veneer,”
Unlike many other historic Spanish missions from the era, the architecture of the current church at San Xavier del Bac Mission is entirely European. It has no Piman influence on its Baroque style, a mix of Byzantine and Moorish architecture, aside from the desert materials and aspects of the interior imagery. The main building is in the shape of a Latin cross. Two octagonal towers topped with belfries stand at the front of the building. One large dome covers the transept crossing, and smaller domes flank it to the north and south.
The walls of San Xavier are built of burnt adobe bricks made of local clay and fired in kilns where the church’s rear courtyard now sits. The bricks form a shell filled with basalt rock hauled down from hills still visible in the distance. “It’s really a stone building with a brick veneer,”
Unlike many other historic Spanish missions from the era, the architecture of the current church at San Xavier del Bac Mission is entirely European. It has no Piman influence on its Baroque style, a mix of Byzantine and Moorish architecture, aside from the desert materials and aspects of the interior imagery. The main building is in the shape of a Latin cross. Two octagonal towers topped with belfries stand at the front of the building. One large dome covers the transept crossing, and smaller domes flank it to the north and south.