Mision San Juan Bautista

Mission San Juan Bautista, located about 90 miles south of San Francisco, was founded in June 1797 by Fr. Fermin de Lasuen. It was the fifteenth of twenty-one missions established in Alta California. Construction of the current church began in 1803 and is the widest of all the mission churches with its three aisles. The mission has been a continuously functioning church since its founding in 1797 and has also been known as the 'Mission of Music' because of the musical talents of Padre Esteban Tapis.

Built directly next to the San Andreas Fault, Mission San Juan Bautista is at constant risk of damage or destruction inflicted by earthquakes. The mission has already suffered such damage over the centuries, visible in the cracks in the Church's adobe walls.

In December 2012, CyArk partnered with California State University Monterey Bay, the California Missions Foundation, and the San Juan Bautista parish to digitally document Mission San Juan Bautista. Western Digital supported the project's field data collection through the generous donation of portable hard drives. Mission San Juan Bautista is the fourth California Mission to become part of CyArk's Digital El Camino Real de California project, which aims to digitally document all twenty-one missions along El Camino Real established by the Spanish in Alta California.