Anscestral Sites Tour - The Mission

What you see today is the last of four adobe mission churches built at Pecos over the course of almost 100 years. In 1598, the Spanish returned to settle. With the settlers came the Franciscan priests who established a mission, the remnants of which are now above you. 

Padre Ortiz built the first church around 1617 or 1618 in the rocky wooded hills outside the pueblo. This may reflect the initial reluctance of the Pecos people to embrace Christianity. By 1625 a new, much larger second church was built south of Pecos Pueblo. This church was destroyed in the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. A temporary, one-room third church was constructed just south of the present church using a wall of the convento. This church was used until the present church was completed around 1717. This fourth church was built on the remains of the 1625 church and was the last church built at Pecos.