Friday, November 4, 2016 is Watch Day at Mission San Xavier. Visitors will enjoy 45-minute Patronato docent-led tours that will include the newly renovated Chapter Room, and visual displays and discussions about the current renovation and preservation efforts underway at the Mission. Public tour start times that day are: 9:30, 10:00, 10:30, 11:00 and Noon.
Historians believe the Chapter Room functioned as a meeting room and formal dining room for the friars. It is now part of the Mission’s museum complex, but has been partially closed off for almost two years so that repairs could be made to the south walls, which are part of the East Tower foundation. With the foundation secured and the walls—with the exception of a “truth window”—re-plastered with lime wash, the area will be re-opened on Watch Day. The “truth window” is a small section of wall that reveals the complex patterning of the adobe bricks hidden by the lime wash.
“Later in the day, we will also unveil a plaque honoring the service and dedication of The Patronato’s Founder’s Circle, which is a group of people who have provided exemplary commitment and service to restoration activities at the Mission,” said Patronato Executive Director Miles Green. Founder’s Circle members include Dianne Bret-Harte, Natalie Davis, Lorraine Drachman, Ann Fallon, Bernard Fontana, Alex Garcia, James Gresham, Patricia Pettis, John P. Schaefer, and Clague Van Slyke II.
World Monuments Fund (WMF)
The World Monuments Watch is the World Monuments Fund’s main advocacy program, calling attention to the challenges and opportunities at cultural heritage sites around the world. Watch Days provide advocates with opportunities to promote sites locally and internationally, to work towards improved site protection, and to strengthen preservation efforts through community engagement.
The World Monuments Fund recently named Mission San Xavier del Bac to their prestigious 2016 World Monuments Watch. The list—50 cultural heritage sites in 36 countries for 2016—is announced biennially to highlight historical sites at risk from the forces of nature and the impact of social, political and economic change. WMF has announced the list for 20 years.
The Patronato San Xavier is a nonsectarian, nonprofit 501(c)3 organization founded by Southern Arizona community leaders in 1978. The Patronato’s only purpose is to promote the restoration, maintenance and preservation of Mission San Xavier del Bac, a National Historic Landmark since 1963.
More information: Miles Green, Executive Director, The Patronato | (520) 407-6130 | info@patronatosanxavier.org