ABSTRACT
The Alamo is an important tourist attraction in San Antonio, Texas, and the most important tourist attraction in the state. Often called 'the cradle of Texas liberty', the Alamo played a symbolic role in the state's history and in the way it developed its sense of itself. The Alamo is also an important national symbol. It was called the Mission San Antonio de Valero and was built in 1718. It had a roofless chapel that was seventy-five feet long and sixty-two feet wide and stone walls that were twenty-two feet high and four feet thick that enclosed the area around the chapel. This design meant that it could function as a fort. In the war of 1835, when Texas was part of Mexico, it was captured by Texas soldiers. The Alamo massacre stands, for Texans, and Americans, as a symbol of American patriots who, though greatly outnumbered, were willing to fight to the death for 'liberty' and other American values.
