Join the World Heritage Office, along with the City of San Antonio’s City Council District 5, Department of Arts & Culture, and Capital Delivery Department, as we celebrate the World Heritage Architectural Gateway Dedication.

Date: Tuesday, December 16
Time: 9 to 9:30 a.m.
Location: 421 Roosevelt Ave., San Antonio, TX 78210

Visitors of the World Heritage Trail entryway will be welcomed by newly installed artwork by local artists Jacob Tobar and Ruth Buentello, and landscaped grounds along Roosevelt Ave. and Mission Road.
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About the Artwork:

MURAL
Entretejiendo Historias (Weaving Stories) by San Antonio artist Ruth L. Buentello is a colorful tile mural that celebrates the natural environment and history of the World Heritage Trail. The artwork shows the four missions along the trail—Mission Concepción, Mission San José, Mission San Juan, and Mission Espada. These images come from 1800s drawings that show how the missions originally looked.

Between the missions are line drawings of plants and animals native to the area. The plants include mesquite pods, the maguey cactus (also called the century plant), and prairie coneflowers. The animals shown are the scissor-tailed flycatcher, red-eared slider, great egret, and monk parakeet. All can be seen throughout the year perched in shrubs, wading in the waters or flying above the trail.

The background includes flowing bands of color inspired by the San José Workshops. The San Jose Workshops were a group of artists who created Mexican tile at Mission San José from 1931 to 1977. A geometric tile motif from a San Jose Workshop pattern is repeated along the bottom of the mural.

The mural invites visitors to explore the missions and enjoy the rich natural world along the World Heritage Trail.

Ruth Leonela Buentello
Entretejiendo Historias
Porcelain Tile Mural, 2025

SCULPTURES

Bent Will by San Antonio artist Jacob Tobar is a pair of concrete sculptures at the corners of Mission and Roosevelt that serve as an entryway to the World Heritage Trail. These sculptures symbolize the blending of cultures and the deep history connecting the people of San Antonio to their city. The sculptures are made of concrete shaped to look like cedar limbs. This method, called trabajo rústico, gives the work a natural and lifelike look. 

The faux cedar limbs form tall arches which echo the designs found at San Antonio’s historic missions. The use of cedar honors the wood once used to support the jacales (simple homes) and grist mills found in the original mission communities. Cedar was also used to build the city’s earliest homes and continue to represent its strong roots today.

Jacob Tobar
Bent Will
Concrete, 2025