Mission San Xavier del Bac

The Mission San Xavier del Bac is an old Spanish mission church located 16 kilometers south of Tucson in Arizona. It is also called White Dove of the Desert.

History

In 1700 a mission station was in the land of the Tohono O'Odham Indians by missionary Eusebio Francisco Kino, a Jesuit priest, built. The present church was on this site then by the Indians in 1797, built to make their unique altarpiece and impressive wall paintings today a popular destination for tourists but also for local believers.

The Mission San Xavier del Bac was recognized on October 9, 1960 as a National Historic Landmark.

After the church was repaired in the 1980s with ordinary construction materials, water is collected in the walls and partially destroyed the murals. Then the complete new material was removed in a complex process and the church restored over several years of international specialists with the historical tradition of the original material. What was new in this process also, that Native artists were incorporated, who took over the job after deduction of experts and in their turn spread the knowledge in similar restorations.

Tourism

The church is closed only on Sundays due to the regular church services, on all the other days she is free to access.

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