The Alamo

The Alamo Mission in San Antonio, known initially as the Misión San Antonio de Valero, is a historic Spanish mission and fortress compound founded in the 18th century by Catholic missionaries. It was also the site of the Battle of the Alamo in 1836.

Today it is a museum and historic district as one of the early Spanish missions in Texas, built for the education and conversion of local American Indians to Christianity.

The mission was secularized in 1793 and then abandoned. Ten years later, it became a fortress and was named the Alamo. During the Texas Revolution, the Mexican General surrendered the fort to the Texian Army in 1835.

The relatively small number of Texian soldiers who then defended the fort were wiped out at the Battle of the Alamo in 1836.

As the Mexican Army retreated from Texas several months later, they tore down many of the Alamo’s walls and burned some of the buildings.

The Daughters of the Republic of Texas formed in 1895 and began trying to preserve the Alamo. Over the next century, progress was made to increase the profile of the site, and in 2015 The Alamo and the four missions in the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Highlights of The Alamo

• The Alamo Mission Chapel
• The Chapel tour
• The Long Barracks
• Paintings, weapons, and other artifacts from the era of the Texas Revolution
• A diorama that recreates the compound as it existed in 1836
• The “Wall of History” mural which portrays the history of the Alamo complex 
• Old well and oak tree in the courtyard of the Alamo
• Memorial to the people who perished at the Battle of the Alamo

Old well and oak tree in Alamo courtyard