San Diego Mission, main entrance

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Exterior view of the main entrance to the San Diego Mission, with its campanario (bell wall), stone arched doorway, and showing its crumbling adobe walls. The bells were rung at mealtimes, to call the Mission residents to work and to religious services, during births and funerals, to signal the approach of a ship or returning missionary, and at other times novices were instructed in the intricate rituals associated with ringing the mission bells. Today, all five bells are only rung in unison once a year and that occurs on the celebration of the anniversary of the founding of the Mission in July.