Facade of the California Building
supplementary information for the walking tour of Balboa Park
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In the center at the top stands Father Junípero Serra, the Franciscan padre who founded a Roman Catholic mission at San Diego in 1769, establishing the first Spanish settlement in California.
To the right of Serra, clockwise, a bust of Emperor Charles of Spain sits in a niche above a statue of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, the Portuguese explorer he sponsored. Cabrillo discovered San Diego Bay in 1542 and claimed it for Spain. Below Cabrillo is a bust of Gaspar de Portola, the military commander who accompanied Father Serra and became the first Spanish governor of California.
On the lower right is the figure of Father de la Ascension, a Carmelite priest who prepared maps for Vizcaíno (whose figure you will come to in a moment).
On the lower left stands Father Jaume, who came to San Diego with Father Serra. He became the first Christian martyr in California when San Diego Indians rose up against the mission in 1775. Above Father Jaume is a bust of English navigator George Vancouver, who sailed into San Diego Bay in 1783.
Above him is the figure of Spanish explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno. He sailed into the bay here in 1602 and changed its name to San Diego, replacing the name Cabrillo had chosen for it, San Miguel. Finally, the bust above Vizcaíno is that of his patron, Philip III of Spain.
