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San Xavier del Bac is a mission
church and a National
Historic
Landmark located in Wa:k, a village in the
San Xavier District of the
Tohono O’odham Nation, approximately 9 miles
south of Tucson, Arizona.
While the church is relatively
well understood from an
architectural and art historical perspective, A
conservation management plan (CMP) incorporates
values held by
a broad group of stakeholders, including those
who actually use the building
on a day-to-day basis, and takes this input into
account in the determination
of significance and management policies.
Developing a CMP for San Xavier
del Bac lays the
groundwork to ensure that the values and
significance associated with the
church are understood and that future
management, conservation work, or
alterations to the site maintain or enhance
those values and significance, and
importantly, don’t diminish or damage them.
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The
church draws tens of thousands of
visitors a year, in large part due to
it's remarkable interior. |
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Conservation management plans
(CMPs) are
“significance driven,” meaning the
recommendations and policies that
they suggest are determined by unique sets of
values expressed by
people who use and care about the site. These
values can and do often
overlap or even conflict—especially in buildings
that are still serving
an original, practical function but have
acquired high architectural or
art historical significance.
CMPs also provide a framework for
understanding the building and prioritizing
conservation and
restoration work. For example, while the Mission
church at San Xavier
is obviously of premiere historical and artistic
value and should be
approached using strict conservation standards,
other parts of the
compound have been substantially modified over
time and serve a more
utilitarian purpose. They may retain some
important historic features,
but may provide more leeway when it comes to
adapting to suit current
needs. CMPs identify important contributing
elements in order to ensure they don’t get
overlooked and that any future decisions are
made
with the necessary background information at
hand.
This is
achieved by laying out a thorough conservation
history of the place,
including a detailed timeline of past work
undertaken. The process,
overall, is intended to be a consolidation of
existing
information, brought together in a pragmatic
format to allow managers to make more informed
decisions about needed changes and cyclical
maintenance. Insight
gleaned from past reports, histories, and other
research combined with
interviews, input, and observations, the CMP
coordinator should be able
to get a sense of the current uses and demands
on a site and understand
vulnerabilities that need to be addressed. |
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The
Mission is an iconic regional
focal point, nationally and
internationally
renowned as one of the most
impressive and well-preserved
examples of Spanish
Colonial architecture in the
United States. It remains an
active Catholic
parish, primarily serving the
local Tohono O’odham community. |
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This is achieved by laying
out a thorough
conservation history of the place, including a
detailed timeline of
past work undertaken. Ultimately, the CMP will
reflect a holistic approach to conservation
management, recognizing the mission’s role as a
working parish; spiritual site; place of local,
national and global cultural significance; and
popular tourist destination located within the
Tohono O’odham Nation in Southern Arizona. It
should serve as a user’s manual, explaining
what’s there, why it’s important, and then
outline how to protect that significance in the
future by suggesting appropriate policies and
maintenance requirements based on sound
conservation practices.
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Conservators
routinely stabilize, dust, and clean the
interior walls and finishes throughout
the church. |
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