Mission San Xavier del Bac

The White Dove of the Desert stands where it does because the O'odham village of Wa:k was already there, at a bend where the Santa Cruz River rose to the surface. Father Kino founded a mission at Wa:k in 1692, but the soaring Spanish Colonial church, the finest in the country, was raised between 1783 and 1797 by O'odham hands under Franciscan direction. When the priests left after Mexican independence, O'odham families kept the building alive. It remains their parish, on the Tohono O'odham Nation, today.

What the plaque says

Mission San Xavier del Bac was founded by Father Eusebio Kino as a Catholic mission in 1692. This Baroque architecture style building is the oldest intact European structure in Arizona. Construction began in 1783 and was completed in 1797. The "White Dove" has served the religious needs of its parishioners for over 300 years.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mission San Xavier del Bac — steps away
  The White Dove of the Desert — the finest Spanish Baroque church in the country
• Tucson — 8.2 mi
  The Old Pueblo — four thousand years of farming under the sky islands
• Saguaro National Park — 23 mi
  The giant cactus, and the O'odham who count it as kin

More markers nearby

• Si We:begi Ha Ñeid — 6.9 mi
• Carrillo Intermediate School — 7.7 mi
• Desert Laboratory — 7.8 mi
• Carlos Ygnacio Velasco House — 7.8 mi