Mission San Diego de Alcalá

Mission San Diego de Alcalá is a mission station with church in San Diego, United States, showing colonial construction with adobe walls and a tower. A walled courtyard with plants separates the chapel from adjoining rooms where exhibition areas are located today.

Father Junípero Serra founded this place in 1769 as the first permanent European settlement on the Pacific coast of California. An uprising by native Kumeyaay people in 1775 destroyed the original buildings and led to their reconstruction at a different site upstream.

The chapel still carries the name of its original patron saint from Spain, a 15th-century figure. Visitors today see white walls and the bell tower that recall the early years of European settlement in this region.

The grounds lie several miles from downtown in a quiet residential neighborhood where parking is available. The site is mostly flat and main paths between church, courtyard and museum are accessible to wheelchairs.

The five bells in the tower come from different centuries and were made in Spain, Mexico and the United States. The oldest was cast in 1802 in Mexico and still carries inscriptions in Latin.

Location: San Diego

Inception: July 16, 1769

Founders: Junípero Serra

GPS coordinates: 32.78444,-117.10639

Latest update: December 14, 2025 17:02