Carmel Mission restoration comes in time for its 250th anniversary
Crews continue to restore the Carmel Mission Museum after the restoration project started in November 2020.
They're renovating and repairing the courtyard in front of the famous Basilica, which was restored back in 2013.
Stephanie Zelei, executive director of Carmel Mission Foundation, talked to KSBW about the work that's being done.
"Remedying the drainage issues that are affecting the foundation of the basilica... We'll be fixing the cracking and the resurfacing as it looked before," Zelei said.
On top of that, restoring the bathrooms, stabilizing the adobe structure and doubling the space size of the museum. Zelei says these changes will highlight the artifacts and make it safer for visitors.
"We have over 300,000 visitors a year that come to the Carmel Mission. There's 6,000 fourth-graders in Monterey County that study the mission system, and many of them have field trips to Carmel Mission, we certainly want the building safe."
The money for the $4 million project came from different sources. They're close to the full amount they need but they're still fundraising the rest.
Zelei says COVID-19 complicated some things but that they're thankful to be able to continue restoring the historic landmark and hope to finish the project by October 2021.
Just in time for its 250th anniversary.