The walls of the pueblo have disintegrated with time into low mounds which lie adjacent to the mission. The ecclesiastical structures have been excavated and repaired for permanent preservation.
Quarai State Monument
This monument is near Punta de Agua, eight miles north of Mountainair off State Highway 10.
The ruins of the mission church of the Immaculate Conception at Quarai are unsurpassed in grandeur of architecture or setting by any that survive from the labors of the early Franciscans in New Mexico. Built of red sandstone masonry about 1628, at the Pueblo of Quarai, it was abandoned along with the pueblo about 1674, chiefly because of Apache depredations.
One of the most venerated of the Franciscan missionaries, Fray Geronimo de la Llana, worked and died at Quarai, beloved by his Indian charges. His remains now rest in a crypt in the wall of St. Francis Cathedral in Santa Fe. The ruins have been excavated and repaired for permanent preservation.
Coronado State Monument
This pueblo ruin is on the west bank of the Rio Grande, one mile from the town of Bernalillo, seventeen miles north of Albuquerque, and one mile off U.S. Highway 85, between Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
The Pueblo of Kuaua was one of the several towns of the ancient Tiguex province. At or near Kuaua, the Coronado expedition maintained headquarters from about 1540 to 1542 A.D. During excavation of the ancient pueblo, more than 1200 ground-floor rooms were found and five kivas, or underground ceremonial chambers, were uncovered.
In one of the kivas was found a highly important group of ancient wall paintings. This kiva has been reconstructed and the paintings restored.
The old walls of Kuaua have been rebuilt to a few feet in height so that the structure can be seen. A museum has been erected on the site to exhibit the material found during the excavation and to portray life in the Tiguex province. The Coronado State Monument and Museum commemorates the meeting, more than four hundred years ago, of the elements that influenced the culture of New Mexico—the Indian and the conquistadore.