Santa Fe Cathedral Park and Monument

Santa Fe Cathedral Park and Monument. . , Santa Fe Cathedral Park and Monument , A gift to the citizenry of Santa Fe and the State of New Mexico commemorating the first European settlers of New Mexico - the Spanish colonists of 1598., The year 1998 marked the 400th anniversary of the arrival in New Mexico of about 560 valiant men, women and children to establish one of the earliest permanent European settlements in the United States. Their leader and first governor, Don Juan de Oñate, led this intrepid band north over hundreds of desolate, dangerous miles to the green valleys of northern New Mexico. It was there the colonists established themselves by introducing European crops and the first horses, sheep, goats, cattle, donkeys and poultry – thereby establishing European culture and technology in the United States, where they had not previously existed., With the settlers came the Franciscan priests and brothers who ministered to the colonists and to the native inhabitants of the region. It was this unswerving devotion to their faith and to their families that consoled and inspired those settlers and their descendants to endure and prevail over 400 years of isolation, abandonment, hardship and cultural challenges. It is to those heroic precursors that our community joins in raising this monument to our forefathers continuing contributions to the history, culture and values of today's America. May they serve as an inspiration to all who pass this way., Cuarto Centenario Cathedral Park and Monument Committee , Names not transcribed , Artist Bernabe Romero , Sculptor Donna Quasthoff , Historians José Antonio Esquibel · Dr. Robert Himmerich y Valencia, 21 June 2003