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Photograph by Visit El Paso Mission Trail

Standing at 14 feet tall this bronze sculpture represents Fray Garcia who founded the area’s first mission, Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission at the Pass of the North in 1659. It was dedicated in 1996 and is the first sculpture in the XII Travelers series. The sculpture depicts Garcia in the act of building the mission; in his right hand he is holding the lintel beam for the Guadalupe Mission and he beckons to the region’s Manso and Suma Indians to join him in building the church, which today is the historical treasure in downtown Ciudad Juarez, El Paso’s sister city. The Mission Grape represents European agriculture, which he introduced to the area. His original mission still stands in downtown Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.