Founded by Junipero Serra on 12. January 1777.
Relocated by Junipero Serra on 19. November 1781 to a new location after floods from the Guadalupe River destroyed the original Mission.

8th Mission of California. Located adjacent to the oldest college in California, the University of Santa Clara.

Flood, fire and earthquake forced five relocations until the Mission finally settled on this current final site in 1822. For more details consult Mission Church History, or since the Mission went into Jesuit hands, see the information in the Jesuits Community pages. The present church is the 6th one(!), constructed 1928 after the 5th Church was lost in a 1926 fire. All these events are documented well by this Wikipedia page. One of the Mission bells is a gift from Spain’s King Alfonso XIII. Entry is free. Mission Church does not have a gift store.

The Museum: The Mission Museum is hosted by de Saisset Museum of Art. Entry is free. Mission Museum is located downstairs. It is small, 4 rooms, but the exhibits are really very well made. One room is dedicated to Ohlone Indians, even a replica of a native canoe, a hat and a baby carrier are on display.

Since the Mission Church is on the premises of the University, parking can be challenging. Visitors might even elect to park on outlying locations of the grounds and walk a block. Gardens surrounding the Mission are very pretty. I often see there students hanging out or studying in shadows of the trees. The present day Church provides sitting for hundreds of parishioners. Sometimes classical concerts are being held in the Mission Church. I still remember the All Saints Day performance of Johannes Brahms "Ein Deutsches Requiem" in this church, a very spiritual experience.

The Cemetery: Old Cemetery at the Church has been converted into a Rose Garden. The greater Mission Cemetery is located several blocks away at the Lincoln Street, corner Bellomy. However, this is not really only "a Spanish Mission Cemetery." The cemetery is a ministry of the Jesuits, with several huge mausoleums and thousands of crypts and niches. I found no specific section dedicated specifically to Spanish, Indigenous and Mexican graves. I saw mostly Italian names. One of the mausoleums is noteworthy: De Saisset family, the donors of many exhibits to the Mission Museum.