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Photo: Liveon001 © Travis K. Witt, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
An incredibly photogenic example of the churches founded in New Mexico during the Spanish mission period. It's a short drive from Downtown Taos on New Mexico 68 and close enough to the highway that you won't have to spend more than 15 minutes getting to and from it if you want to settle for a quick visit. For serious photography and painting, you may have to join a crowd of other aspiring artists. Tours of the interior are available except around times of worship services.
San Francisco de Asís Parish Church is an historic and architecturally significant Catholic church in Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. During the 18th century, it was the center of a small Spanish and Native American agricultural community. The current church was constructed between 1772 and 1816.
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One of the few existing Spanish Colonial haciendas, or "Great Houses", you can take a self-guided tour of this wonderful old place, with its numerous rooms surrounding two courtyards. Besides being a good representation of architecture from the time, the numerous examples of period furnishings and interesting artifacts such as wagons, a recreated blacksmith shop, a collection of religious art, and a weaving room give you a sense of what frontier life was like here in the early 19th century.
A vast collection from Taos artists dating from the 18th to the 20th century, with particular focus on Hispanic artistic traditions and paintings from the Taos Society of Artists.
The former home of Ernest L. Blumenschein, who became captivated by the scenery in Taos when he and a friend were traveling through and a wagon accident forced them to stay in Taos. Blumenschein told other artists of the beautiful scenery and returned to Taos, where he helped create the Taos Art Colony. Today, you'll find the home furnished with many of Blumenschein's original belongings and paintings.
The Taos home of Kit Carson, a 19th-century frontiersman, Indian agent, and Army officer who played a prominent role in the Indian Wars. The house has been lovingly preserved, with artifacts from Carson's life and period furnishings illustrating frontier life in Taos, including one room done up to look like a frontier trading post.