We attended the outdoor event “Restored by the Light” at Mission San Jose on September 10, 2021 that is part of the World Heritage Festival. The community event is a celebration of culture, art, and heritage our historical Missions and seeing them in a different “light” was such an amazing experience. The San Antonio Missions are Texas’s first World Heritage Site.
The first Restored By Light event was held in 2015 at Mission Concepcion and in 2016, it was expanded to include the “Queen of the Missions” Mission San Jose. The event is hosted by the City of San Antonio of Historic Preservation and World Heritage Offices.
Attendees were able to bring a picnic and also enjoy food from local food trucks. There were kids activities and a ballet folklorico performance from the San Antonio Parks & Recreation Dance Program. This year, students from SAISD schools displayed original artwork on the mission façade.
Per City of San Antonio World Heritage Office:
The missions were established in the early eighteenth century by Catholic religious orders to spread Christianity among local natives and to establish self-sustaining, socio-economic communities loyal to the Catholic Church.
World Heritage Sites are places of ‘outstanding universal value’ selected by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation).
