Sacred Garden, Mission San Juan Capistrano

This is the Sacred Garden at Mission San Juan Capistrano in California.  This space was created during renovations in the early 1900s, and lies behind the main bell wall and adjacent to the Serra Chapel.  San Juan Capistrano is one of  21 missions on California's Mission Trail, a 700-mile stretch from San Diego in the south to Sonoma just north of San Francisco.

Founded in 1776 by Father Junipero Serra, San Juan Capistrano was the seventh mission to be established in California by the Spanish along El Camino Real, The Royal Road. It was named after crusader Saint John of Capistrano.

The great stone church once had seven domes and a bell tower that could be seen ten miles away but it was severely damaged by an 1812 earthquake. One of the remaining walls of this church is on the left side of this scene. The Serra Chapel of 1777, on the right side, remains the oldest building still in use in California.  The mission is also renowned for the return each March of migrating cliff swallows.