The site encom­pass­es a group of five fron­tier mis­sion com­plex­es sit­u­at­ed along a stretch of the San Anto­nio Riv­er basin in south­ern Texas, as well as a ranch locat­ed 37 kilo­me­tres to the south. It includes archi­tec­tur­al and archae­o­log­i­cal struc­tures, farm­lands, res­i­den­cies, church­es and gra­naries, as well as water dis­tri­b­u­tion sys­tems. The com­plex­es were built by Fran­cis­can mis­sion­ar­ies in the 18th cen­tu­ry and illus­trate the Span­ish Crown‘s efforts to col­o­nize, evan­ge­lize and defend the north­ern fron­tier of New Spain. The San Anto­nio Mis­sions are also an exam­ple of the inter­weav­ing of Span­ish and Coahuil­te­can cul­tures, illus­trat­ed by a vari­ety of fea­tures, includ­ing the dec­o­ra­tive ele­ments of church­es, which com­bine Catholic sym­bols with indige­nous designs inspired by nature.