How the architecture of the Panama-California Exposition,
which influenced the appearance of all California, flowed from designs
of famed buildings in historic Spain, Mexico and Italy

Cool archways are typical of much of Latin America and Spain. The heavy arches of Genoa in Italy and Salamanca in Spain and Celaya in Mexico, and yes, those of the Franciscan Missions of California, were repeated in the exposition. The mission atmosphere was reflected in the arcades of Plaza de California with their slanting wooden beams. In the top photo is a quiet and shaded passage once along the north side of the Prado. In Celaya in central Mexico, which was founded in 1570, the town plaza is enclosed on four sides by buildings lined with arches, as is the central plaza of Salamanca in Spain. The view below, however, was taken through the shaded arches of the Church of Carmen in Celaya.