San Fernando Cathedral

The San Fernando Cathedral anchors the main plaza with walls of weathered limestone and a pair of distinct, octagonal bell towers. Established in seventeen thirty-one by families from the Canary Islands, it serves as the oldest continuously functioning religious community in Texas. When the Siege of the Alamo began in eighteen thirty-six, General Santa Anna raised a blood-red flag from the top of these towers to signal that no quarter would be given to the defenders trapped inside the mission nearby.