Mission San Luis Museum is found in Tallahassee, Florida. A visit to the museum makes the visitor travel back in time to about 1703 and brings out the rich history of the visiting Spanish people and the native Appalachian Indians. This essay discusses some of the artifacts found in the museum.
One of the iconic artifacts found in the Museum includes the bells sourced from the mission quadrangle. They were cast in 1814 in Mexico and are made of metal alloy and embellished with gold. The branding and decorations are matching the official brand of Carmel Mission. More importantly, the branded bells are said to have been used in the Mission San Luis Rey.
Image Source: Mission San Luis Library
The second artifact is the “key to the city”. It is said that that it was handed to persons visiting the Mission. In addition, a closer examination of the key shows a coiled snake at the handle area. Artifact interpreters trace the design of the key to the biblical story in genesis about the desire for the woman to acquire eternal knowledge after she was deceived by the devil. As such, the key to was christened as the “key to eternal life,” unfortunately, the devil foiled the original plan of God and the key can only remain just a key (Mission San Luis Museum).
Image Source: Mission San Luis Library
Thirdly, the museum rooms are dominated by a huge cross known as the Christo Grande. The history of the cross indicates that it was originally stored in San Diego Mission beginning 1769 to 1858 before it was restored and moved to a mission Chapel in Old Town and stayed there from 1858 to 1919. Further, in 1919, the Christo Grande was moved to Immaculate Conception in Old Town and later transferred to Mission San Luis in 1945, where it has domiciled till date (Mission San Luis Museum).
Image Source: Mission San Luis Library
Down the hallway, the Museum displays the Sala General, which was a dexterously designed table mostly used as an administrative meeting point for the mission activities. The Sala General is accompanied by the archetypical padre beds found inside the mandatory museum.
Image Source: Mission San Luis Library
Before a visitor reaches the kitchen area, there is a monumental display of weaving and laundry works by the missionaries. The displays produce a glimpse of the activities, perhaps economic carried out by the Missionaries.
Image Source: Mission San Luis Library
Further, a lithographic image is displayed in the hall said to have been constructed by Eugene Duflot De Mofras in 1841. Eugene made the lithograph to relish his memories during his visit to the mission from 1827-1841. However, the image depicts a serious realistic challenge, especially when relying on archeological artifacts to reconstruct history. This is because, in the lithograph, the tower is shown to have had two bells, while evidence shows that only one existed at the time (Mission San Luis Museum).
Image Source: Mission San Luis Library
Finally, the museum has a display of a collection of religious reading materials and books (Mission San Luis Museum) as shown in Fig. 7 below
Image Source: Mission San Luis Library
In conclusion, the Mission San Luis Museum is a historic landmark that displays artifacts that help to reconstruct the contact between the Spanish Mission and the Appalachian Indians three centuries ago. It further helps historians and researchers acquire knowledge of the way of San Luis.
References
Mission San Luis Museum. Mission San Luis Museum. Mission Tours. 27 April 2015: Retrieved from http://missiontour.org/wp/sanluisrey/mission-san-luis-rey-museum-page-1.html . Accessed 1/2/2017
