Misión San Lorenzo de Picuris

In the mid-seventeenth century, Spanish friars built a mission near modern-day Taos. The goal of this settlement was to convert the native peoples to Christianity. In this area, the local communities were the Picuris. Because it did not have enough government workers or settlers to establish large cities throughout the extensive American territories that it claimed, the Spanish Crown allowed church officials to oversee these complexes. The priests not only supervised the native peoples during worship, but also taught them to work and live according to Spanish customs. The mission underwent multiple instances of military attack and natural disaster. The structure that stands today was built with indigenous labor in the late-eighteenth century.