Spanish mission founded September 1, 1772 is the namesake of San Luis Obispo and offers tours of the beautiful church, gardens, school and small museum that holds a collection of its artifacts

How to Get There

From Los Angeles (189 miles): Get on US-101 N. Continue on US-101 N to Santa Barbara. Take exit 101B from US-101 N. Get on US-101 N from CA-154 W/San Marcos Pass Rd. Follow US-101 N to Broad St in San Luis Obispo. Take exit 202B from US-101 N. Continue on Broad St. Drive to Palm St.

Overview

Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa (Spanish: Misión San Luís Obispo de Tolosa) is a Spanish mission founded September 1, 1772 by Father Junípero Serra in San Luis Obispo, California. Named after Saint Louis of Anjou, the bishop of Toulouse, the mission is the namesake of San Luis Obispo. Today, it offers tours of the beautiful church, gardens, school and small museum that holds a collection of its artifacts. Unlike other California missions, the San Luis Obispo Mission is open to the public every day of the year and is still a very popular parish for the town's Catholic community.

The Mission of San Luis Obispo is unusual in its design, in that its combination of belfry and vestibule are found nowhere else among the California missions. Like other churches, the main nave is short and narrow, but at the San Luis Obispo Mission, there is a secondary nave of almost equal size situated to the right of the altar, making it the only L-shaped mission church in California.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.