What’s the story behind this beautiful thing?

I was recently down in Carmel, visiting the old Spanish Mission there. It really is a beautiful place–the courtyard is full of flowers and thousands of hummingbirds.

It’s the kind of quiet, contemplative space that makes you wonder…

And in my case, I started wondering about that prominent star-shaped window over the arched doorway. It’s pretty clearly a colonial-era Spanish design element, but I’m not sure I’ve seen it at any other of the Missions in California.

Since this is a holiday weekend in the US, I’m going to post a fairly straightfoward Challenge for the week (although you can carry this question as far forward as you like–and as I’m sure Regular Readers will do).

1. What is the story with that unusual star over the doorway at Mission Carmel?

2. Does any other Californian Mission have a star window like that?

3. Where did that particular star shape come from? Can you find any other examples of stars in this shape in architecture elsewhere in the world?


Search on! (And tell us HOW you found the answers!! We want to learn your thought process so we can search as well as you do.)