San Miguel Chapel, Santa Fe, NM

San Miguel Chapel is a Spanish colonial mission church in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is said to be the oldest church in the United States, originally built around 1610. It has been rebuilt twice and it is not clear how much of the earlier churches remain. The wooden reredos, which includes a wooden statue of Saint Michael dating back to at least 1709, was added in 1798. The church is part of the Barrio De Analco Historic District, which is a U.S. National Historic Landmark. This district also includes the De Vargas Street House, which is called the “oldest house”.

At left below is a wooden statue of St. Michael the Archangel wielding a sword. The statue originated in Mexico in 1709 and has been in place at least since 1776, when it was mentioned in Domínguez’ inventory of the church. It is in a niche in the center of the lowest row in the reredos visible in the first photo above.

A wider view of the chapel is shown below.

Below is a photograph of the De Vargas Street house (“the oldest house”). In the photo of chapel above you can see this building to the left of the chapel.

References:
San Miguel Chapel
San Miguel Chapel History
San Miguel Chapel at Wikipedia
Barrio de Analco Historic District
Oldest House
List of the oldest buildings in the United States

Leave a Reply