The Alamo

The limestone chapel of the Alamo, with its signature curved facade, sits in the middle of modern San Antonio. Originally built as the Mission San Antonio de Valero, it served as a home for Spanish missionaries and the local Coahuiltecan people. In eighteen thirty-six, the site became the setting for a thirteen-day siege between Mexican forces and a small group of Texian defenders. When the final battle ended, the chapel remained the only structure standing, its crumbling walls marking the site of that violent clash.