“It’s your own vision of the image,” Green said.

The Patronato San Xavier 2027 Calendar Photo Contest is open to professional and amateur photographers, and it can include both interior and exterior photos.

Mamta Popat, Arizona Daily Star

The contest is open to photographers 18 and older and the images must feature the mission or its surrounding desert landscape. AI-generated or altered images are not eligible.

There is a $6 per submission entry fee to cover administrative costs and a limit of four submissions per person. All submissions must be digital, high-resolution in JPEG, TIFF, JPG, or PDF format. For the complete contest rules, visit patronatosanxavier.org/photo-contest.

Patronato San Xavier quietly opened the contest weeks ago while scaffolding still shrouded the mission’s facade as part of a restoration project launched in winter 2025.

The work, funded through a $749,000 grant from the National Park Service in fall 2024, involves stabilizing and restoring the building’s decorative facade that dates back to the 18th century.

Green said work can only be done in the winter because the product they use “is very susceptible to heat.”

“Even at the end of March, we were somewhat shocked to discover those 100-degree days really impacting some of the product that we were attempting to use,” he said.

The facade restoration project is the largest in the mission’s history, financed by the largest single grant in the 46-year history of the nonprofit Patronato San Xavier, which oversees preservation and fundraising. 

Photos: San Xavier Mission in 1940 and 2015

Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@tucson.com. On Bluesky @Starburch

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