Our Lady of the Angels.

The mission of Our Lady of the Angels (Nuestra Senora de los Angeles de Porciuncula) at Pecos has a history that illustrates the vicissitudes of mission building in New Mexico. The magnificent ruins of the current adobe church, the fourth structure on the site, date from the early eighteenth century. Parts of two of the three earlier churches are still visible today, however. Examination of their remains illuminates the history of church building in New Mexico.

First Church.

Although Francisco Vasquez de Coronado visited Pecos in 1540-1541, the first church was not built until the early 1600s, with the arrival of Franciscan friars. Like most early-seventeenth-century New Mexican churches, this temporary single-nave structure, situated north of the pueblo, was built of adobe with a dirt floor. The nave is the main vessel of a Christian church, usually long, narrow...