Congressmen urge Park Service to guard San Antonio Missions from vandalism | San Antonio Information | San Antonio

After current vandalism on the San Antonio Missions Nationwide Historic Park, three Alamo Metropolis-area congressmen despatched a letter to the Nationwide Park Service urging it to raised shield the historic constructions.

The Oct. 17 letter from U.S. Reps Joaquin Castro, Henry Cuellar and Greg Casar, all Democrats, urges Park Service officers to create an motion plan to make sure the missions stay secure and free from additional harm.

“We’re frightened that with out correct safety and safety, the San Antonio Missions could not survive one other 300 years,” the letter stated.

In 2022, vandals broke by the church doorways at Mission San Juan and tried to interrupt into Mission Concepcion. Vandals additionally carved names and dates into San Juan’s doorways, inflicting vital harm, based on the letter.

This July, one other group of vandals tried to interrupt into the Mission San Jose church and broken the construction’s historic rose window.

The San Antonio Missions had been designated a Nationwide Historic Park by Congress in 1978 and had been named a World Heritage Web site by the United Nations in 2015.

Since then, the Park Service has shared duty for sustaining the Missions and surrounding land with Las Misiones, the nonprofit charged by the Archdiocese of San Antonio to look after the church buildings.

The 18th century church buildings require particular and costly work to revive them to their authentic situation after the vandalism, based on the letter. That is required Las Misiones to choose up the invoice for expensive repairs.

“We urge you to proceed working carefully with applicable state and native companions to make clear jurisdictional boundaries and to create a plan to make sure our Missions stay secure and damage-free for a lot of extra years,” the congressmen stated of their letter.