Centuries-Old Murals Revealed (Discovered) In Mission Dolores (San Francisco)

SF Chronicle ^ | 1-29-2004 | Carl Nolte

[blam]

Two young men, one an artist, the other an archaeologist, crawled over the ancient redwood beams of San Francisco's Mission Dolores earlier this month, opened a trap door, lowered an electric light into a space behind the main altar -- and stared into the 18th century.

[blam]

Go to the site to view the images.

[blam]

Glyphs?

[ruoflaw]

I will check them right away...thanks!

[The KG9 Kid]

Corazón del Sagrado

'Sacred Heart'; Virgin of Guadalupe Shrine, I think.

[steplock]

highly unusual style of illustration for a "native artist" from the 18th century. It just does not appear to fit ... especially the sword handle.

[gg188]

"Perhaps,'' Wood said, "someone will give us a grant."

Dude---what you do is tell everyone it is MUSLIM art, or animal worship, or tree worship, or buddu, voodoo, or raghead art....ANYTHING but CHRISTIAN!

[VOA]

I suspect this is the same mission I saw profiled on TV.
It's small and not ornate...but IIRC, the walls are so thick and substantial, it has
survived earthquakes while more contemporary neighboring structures have not.

Also, it's such an humble structure that tourists think a more modern church next door is
actually the mission.

[Tacis]

I'm sorry, but if they were done by Indians and they are located in San Francisco, then every use of the word "Indian" or phrase "Native American," must be preceded by the word "Sacred." To the extreme left, ALL things Indian are automatically Sacred.

[farmfriend]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs
List for articles regarding early civilizations , life of all forms, - dinosaurs - etc.

Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this ping list.

[GeronL]

That does not look anything like other native artwork I've seen. Looks more euro-peon to me. especially the handle and the use of the background... of course I'd have to check out the entire picture on their website... of course I am not an expert but I am a Texan =o)

[JudyB1938]

I wonder how much the knives the Aztecs used to cut out beating hearts later influenced Christian art depicting hearts with daggers.

The knife seems to be an important part of their lives in more ways than one. The mother of the Aztec creation story was called "Coatlique". She was first impregnated by an obsidian knife.

[visualops]

The pictures accompanying the article are almost all of those 2 guys. There is only the one decent one of the heart. Sheesh.

[CobaltBlue]

It is sacred art. It's religiously motivated, of religious themes, in a religious place (church). Your sarcasm is unwarranted.

[CobaltBlue]

What on earth motivated you to post a gay painting to a thread about Christian art in a church?

Do you think it's clever? The church is in San Francisco, therefore you need to joke about gays?

How old are you? Fifteen? Are you Beavis or are you Butthead?

[CobaltBlue]

The Indians in San Francisco were not Aztecs.

[CobaltBlue]

[expat_panama]

It is sacred art. It's religiously motivated,

the article said:

"It was built by Ohlone slave labor,''

Both statement may be true, but interaction between the western and indigenous cultures in the Americas is now more legend than history.  The party line may have changed from "putting pants on the savages" to "enslavement of nobility", but with this find there's a lot more evidence of religious motivation than forced enslavement.

[Varda]

""You can only imagine what these people were thinking to be put to work painting a wall with completely alien symbols," Blind said."

Maybe they were thinking they were honoring Christ their Lord and Savior.

This assumption that the Indians couldn't possibly have done this for their own reasons is common among archaeologists. I visited the British Museum last summer and wandered over to their North American exhibit. There among the artifacts was a letter by a newly Christianized Indian from one of the California missions. He explained that life was better now that he lived at the mission. The English of course in their hatred for all things Spanish and Catholic couldn't let that stand unanswered so they had a modern interpretation beside the letter explaining that the Indian was a slave. They did that for nothing else in that exhibit.

[expat_panama]

Indians in San Francisco were not Aztecs.

The weren't from India either -unless you stretch the time frame. 

The image of the heart and dagger that's popular in Latin America is much more graphic that the valentine from Ohio.  An Aztec link would be much more believable than no link.  Religions typically spread more by absorption-- Messiah from Bethlehem, Greeks change the name from Joshua to Jesus, Romans change the birthday from spring to December 25.  If it works, do it!