94 years after the mural was first discovered by policeman Charles Fennell as he watched workmen “buttressing the walls of the building” and noticed streaks of color, according to a San Francisco Examiner article from 1918 — the mural is no closer to being restored. Instead, it continues to fade and flake.
Mural paraphernalia is no longer sold at the gift shop. Andrew Galvan, the curator of Mission Dolores, said the cost of restoring the mural outweighs the benefits to the community. Producing the paraphernalia is also a cost the Church can’t afford as people showed no interest to acquire it.
Historians said the issue is the expense and difficulty of moving an 18th-century altarpiece that was set in front of the mural in 1796. Ben Wood and Eric Blind have become advocates for its restoration. One option is to restore the mural digitally, but only a 20-by-5-foot stretch of the 32-by-20-foot mural can be photographed; wood beams prohibit access to the lower portion.
Today, the biggest threat to the mural is that most people have forgotten about it, Wood said.
Further, we need advice on how to get traction with a crowdfunded (Kickstarter) non profit project like this.
