Quarai Ruins - The Chapel | National Park Jigsaw Puzzle
Mountainair, New Mexico
A 250 or 500-piece, artist signed jigsaw puzzle from the Artist Signature Series, titled Quarai Mission Ruins - The Chapel, features the breathtaking Quarai Mission Ruins of the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, near Mountain Air and Punta de Agua, New Mexico. This thriving city is what Don Juan de Oñate found when he arrived at Quarai in 1598. The Quarai Mission and Convento were established at Quarai in 1626 overseen by Fray Juan Gutierrez de la Chica. Construction began on La Purisma Concepcion de Quarai in 1627 and continued to 1632. Curiously, within the newly built convento, a Square Kiva was built. Like the other Missions of Salinas Pueblo Missions, a combination of disease, drought, famine, and Apache raiding led to the abandonment of Quarai in 1678. Settlers would return to Quarai in the early 1800s constructing the Lucero Structures which included a defensive Torreon and the later Manzano Church.