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| Built in 1629, the San Esteban del Rey
Mission Church and Convent represents over 350 years of cultural evolution at the Pueblo
of Acoma in New Mexico. |
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 cattered
across the deserts and mountains of New Mexico is the largest and most diverse assemblage
of publicly used earthen buildings in the United States. Almost one-third of the
state’s 362 catalogued adobe churches are now in imminent danger of loss or severe
damage due to shrinking congregations, well-intentioned but misdirected preservation, and
lack of technical skills to initiate repairs and restoration. The most significant of
these churches suffer from moisture penetration, cracking plaster and deteriorating
footings, and the inappropriate use of cement plaster. An award-winning nonprofit
organization, Cornerstones, is working to stabilize and restore approximately 200 of these
historic structures by developing partnerships with communities, encouraging traditional
building practices and developing skills and leadership among the younger generation.
In May of 1999, Save America’s Treasures traveled to Acoma Pueblo with the
First Lady and awarded a private $200,000 grant to Cornerstones to carry out their
community-based preservation work. Of that grant, $75,000 will go towards the preservation
of San Esteban del Rey Mission and Convento, which is located on the Pueblo.
Built in 1629, the mission is a National Historic Landmark and Official Project of Save
America's Treasures. The Acoma people moved 20,000 tons of earth and stone from the
canyon floor 300 feet up the precipitous sides of the mesa to build the mission over a
14-year period. It is one of the few Spanish missions to survive the Pueblo Revolt of 1680
and contains the largest inventory of original materials of any still-functioning building
from its era. It provides an unusual opportunity to study and document building methods
used by the Spanish and Native peoples only a few decades after the arrival of Juan de
Oņate and the first Spanish explorers in 1598. Work on the mission — one of the
oldest surviving structures still in use in the country — will provide a site for
Cornerstones and community elders to train the youth of Acoma in the skills necessary to
restore and maintain the mission using traditional methods and materials.
Related Resources
- Save America's
Treasures to Help Save San Esteban Del Rey
- Through Cornerstones
Community Partnerships, News Release, 05/21/99.
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- Cornerstones Community Partnerships
- Cornerstones works with communities to strengthen cultural values by restoring historic
buildings, encouraging traditional building practices, and developing skills and
leadership among the younger generation.
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- CIM Magazine Photo Essay, Acoma
Pueblo, New Mexico
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