Tourists and Religion at Temple Square and Mission San Juan Capistrano

A comparative investigation of Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Mission San Juan Capistrano in southern California explores experience, authenticity, and authority at religious places that are also sites of intense tourist activity. This study of the Mormon holy site and the former Catholic mission established during the Spanish colonial era includes a contemplation of their respective strategies of allurement, proselytization efforts, economic exchange on the sites, efforts at preservation and restoration, ownership and control of these places, and official interpretations of their histories and meanings. It concludes by noting how the claims and counterclaims made at hybrid places of religion and tourism rely on the authority of experiences regarded as authentic.