Scaffolding goes up at Alamo
Scaffolding and fencing have gone up around the 1930s Alamo Cenotaph for a structural integrity investigation that will take at least a few weeks.
Erection of scaffolding will continue Thursday as experts prepare for an extensive examination of the 56-foot-tall marble monument honoring Texians and Tejanos who died in the 1836 battle for Texas independence.
The investigation’s findings will guide a plan to maintain and preserve it.
“It’s not moving, but it does need some repair,” Alamo Trust Executive Director Kate Rogers said in a video.
Some of the monument’s stones have “moved a bit” and “there’s some question about the structural integrity,” she said.
Two 2014 reports by engineers and conservators said it might be necessary to partly disassemble the monument to head off a long-term safety hazard and prevent “cracking and eventual loss of the heads and faces of the carved figures” of Alamo defenders.
Alamo officials said repairs will be handled with sensitivity. The monument, designed by architect Carlton Adams and with statuary by artist Pompeo Coppini collectively titled “The Spirit of Sacrifice,” stands near the Long Barrack, where some Alamo defenders are believed to have died in hand-to-hand fighting.
“We will have to remove the top of the structure in order to get either a person or a drone inside to look at what’s going on with the interior. We’re going to preserve it right where it is. Even if some of the stones have to be removed, they’re going to be left right here on the sacred Alamo grounds,” Rogers said.
Alamo officials said the investigation by Clark/Guido, a joint venture of Clark Construction, will “comprehensively document the state of the monument, both externally and internally,”
The Cenotaph sits in a city-owned plaza that is leased to the state. It’s part of the Alamo historic site, which is undergoing a $550 million, public-private renovation.