Texas officials applauded a United Nations committee's decision Sunday to add the Alamo and four other Spanish Roman Catholic missions to UNESCO's list of world heritage sites, knowing it may bring more tourists.
The UNESCO World Heritage committee added the sites, known as the San Antonio Missions, to the list during a meeting in Bonn, Germany.
State Rep. Joaquin Castro, a San Antonio native, said in a statement that he was "proud and grateful" to the UN cultural body.
"Not only does the World Heritage Site designation raise San Antonio's international profile, it stands to add over a thousand jobs and more than $100 million to our city's economy," Castro said.
The missions were built in the 18th century in and around what is now the city of San Antonio to convert indigenous people to Catholicism and make them Spanish subjects. Disease reduced the native population, accelerating the missions' decline.
The Alamo featured in a famous 1836 battle in which Texas settlers seized the mission from the Mexican army, but were eventually routed.
In the Battle of San Jacinto, then-victorious Texas soldiers shouted, "Remember the Alamo!"
The missions and the land around them became a national park in 1983, and all except the Alamo are still used as Catholic parishes.
Officials hope the designation of the largest collection of Spanish colonial architecture in the U.S. will boost tourism.
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