San Antonio’s World Heritage Center will hold grand opening this Friday

In 2015, UNESCO designated San Antonio’s five Spanish missions as a World Heritage site, enshrining them as places with outstanding, universal value to human history and culture.

The city of San Antonio will cement the historic structures’ legacy this Friday with the grand opening of a dedicated visitor center and community event space called the World Heritage Center. The facility is located in a lavishly designed $9 million building just a stone’s throw away from Mission Marquee Plaza.

Exhibits inside the building, developed by the Witte Museum with community input, will tell the story of the area’s Indigenous residents and their forced conversion and resettlement by Spanish colonizers, along with the rich blended cultural and design legacy of the missions and the enduring significance they hold for the city today.

Guests at the grand opening can expect a ribbon-cutting, performances, a reception, a legacy gift dedication to celebrate the tricentennial of the missions’ founding and ample opportunities to wander through the space, which also includes locally produced artwork and video testimonials from mission descendants.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg and District 3 Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran are also expected to speak.

Free, 10 a.m.-noon Friday, Feb. 7, World Heritage Center, 3106 Roosevelt Ave., (210) 207-2111, sanantonio.gov/worldheritage.

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This article appears in Feb 5-18, 2025.