Walls of the 17th century mission church at Quarai are highlighted by the maelstrom of luminous gas and dust of the Orion nebula.
The Orion nebula is located in the constellation Orion the Hunter, in a spiral arm of our own Milky Way galaxy. In this view from NASA
=s Hubble Space Telescope, stars in the process of forming their own solar systems throw out tails of superheated gas and dust, giving Orion a spectacular color panorama streaking out from the nebula=s center. (Grin Data Base: GPN-2000-000983. Also credit C.R. O=Dell & S.K Wong, Rice Univ.)The mission church at Quarai was built by native labor under the direction of Franciscan friars who entered central New Mexico in the 1600's. Originally some 40 feet high, the church walls enclosed an organ and choir and an interior 100 feet long and 50 feet across at it
=s widest point. After less than a century of Spanish domination, the Pueblo Indians revolted in 1680 and killed or drove out every foreigner. Although the Spanish reconquered New Mexico, Quarai was never rebuilt.Click on image to return to Quarai.