After three years of closure and restoration, voices will once again echo in the halls of Mission San Gabriel starting Saturday, July 1.
Now, after the pandemic and a fire that nearly destroyed it, the historic mission will finally be reopened.
On Tuesday, June 27, Roman Catholic leaders, including L.A. Archbishop José Gomez, the local Gabrieleño/Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians and other invited dignitaries came to the historic site to christen a restored landmark while unveiling its reimagined museum, designed to highlight local Indigenous voices and history.
“Thanks be to God!” proclaimed Rev. Parker Sandoval, the vice chancellor of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, who was a leader in the restoration effort. “Today, three years later, the mission is fully restored and above all, the museum is now refreshed with a brand new exhibit.”
On July 10, 2020, a fire, which officials say was set by an arsonist, broke out in the mission’s choir loft, eventually spreading to damage the pulpit and altar. The blaze caused major damage to the roof, the interior, to artifacts and in the attic of a 250-year-old mission, the fourth of 21 missions Spaniards built in Alta California.
For a Roman Catholic Community that treasures the church, the restoration was a major moment in the history of a landmark that paved a path for the Roman Catholic Church in the region and in the United States.
But it was also a sobering moment, imbued with a complex and often troubling past.
The arrival of Spanish missionaries had a huge impact on the future of California. But it would also displace the area’s Native American inhabitants – a fact that Los Angeles Archdiocese sought to acknowledge, even as the mission opens to the public on the day that celebrates the sainthood of Junipero Serra, the controversial Spanish priest who established the landmark.
The mission museum’s new exhibit “Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, 1771-1900: Natives, Missionaries, and the…
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