Tucson Standard

The restoration of the San Xavier del Bac Mission is nearing completion, KGUN reported.

Scaffolding and fencing around the restoration site were recently cleared, allowing visitors to see the restored tower during Holy Week, the station reported.

"When we took apart the plaster on there, there was a lot of blocks that were really deteriorating.” mason Jarvis Juan told the station. “You could just hit it with your hand and pull it apart. So we had to replace a lot of those.” 

The goal was to keep the mission in its original state," art conservator Matilde Rubio said.

“We are not trying to recreate anything,” said art conservator Matilde Rubio. “We don’t guess. We just keep the original as it is and this is it… History is the history and that’s it.”   

That means using original materials whenever possible.

“Soon as the dust hits it, year after year, day after day, it’ll turn brown like this side,” art conservator Timothy Lewis said. “It’s more compatible, rather than trying to use something stronger or better, which normally doesn’t work out that well anyway.” 

“It’s tedious but it’s also satisfying,” Susie  Morenoart conservator apprentice who is a University of Arizona student told the station. “The before and after, and even if it’s not that dramatic, you can still, you know something was done. You either stabilized it or you’re documenting it.”