VISUAL THEOLOGY

Mission Dolores. Detail of painted high altar, which came from San Blas, Mexico in 1796. Mission Dolores is the oldest building in San Francisco, founded by Spanish missionaries in 1776 (five days before the Declaration of Independence) and built 1788-91 by converted Native Americans. It is from this mission, dedicated to St. Francis, that the city gets its name Above Detail of the wooden ceiling of the nave, hand-painted with traditional Native American patterns ■