Dolores

Leonardo Nuñez

California printmaker Leonardo Nunez depicts the Dolores Mission chapel, the oldest surviving settler structure in San Francisco and the only fully intact mission chapel of the twenty-one established by Junipero Serra.

Known formally as Mission San Francisco de Asis, it gained its common name from the creek that ran nearby, Arroyo de los Dolores, the “creek of sorrows.”i> Construction of the adobe mission was completed in 1779; in 1918, the large, Gothic inspired basilica was added beside it, becoming the main house of worship in the parish. Today, the chapel hosts guided tours that include the history of the mission as well as that of local Ohlone and Miwok indigenous tribes.