Nuestra Señora de la Soledad	page 1 of 2

"A Desert Place" Father Jerome Tupa 40 " x 56" / Oil on canvas 1998

Nuestra Señora de la Soledad Father Fermín Lasuén founded Nuestra Señora Dolorísima de la Soledad in October, 1771. The Mission was originally prosperous. A series of floods destroyed buildings and epidemics wiped out the population of missionaries and Indians, leaving only a small number of people. Ultimately, the structures fell into decay. In 1954, the Native Daughters of the Golden West, a group of California women, championed restoration efforts at the Mission. A small wing of seven rooms and a single chapel are the only reminders of Soledad's history. Father Jerome Tupa has captured the sad, impoverished Mission in its desolate surroundings. Colors, rich and deep in some of the other paintings, are washed out here. This is perhaps Tupa's visual response to what he described as the oppressive heat, poverty, and quietude that surround the Mission today. Click here to see the watercolor version or to see a full-screen image of the painting.

Other Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad sites:
Mission Nuestra Señora de La Soledad from the California Missions On-Line Project by Rob Garretson (1998). Includes interactive quiz.
Mission Soledad, Monterey County Historical Society, Local History Pages, is under construction but a good start.
Nuestra Señora de la Soledad The California Mission Site. Ed. The Civic Group. 24 Sept. 1998.
Timeline & Floorplan, Mission Nuestra Senora de la Soledad, a project built by students up and down the state of California. (This mission site is incomplete.)
Some beautiful photos (one, two, three) can be found at Andy's Infrared Website. Click on the images to enlarge. Copyright (c) 2000 Andy Frazer.
Virtual Guidebook to El Camino Real, Mission la Soledad. Don Bain (author and photographer of The Virtual Guidebooks)

First posted April, 2001.

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Last modified Wednesday March 23, 2011