The San Antonio Express-News reports that the physical condition of the Alamo is deteriorating at an alarming rate.

The iconic mission-era church of the Alamo has long been crumbling, possibly at a rate Texans will find alarming, according to a Texas A&M University researcher.  The base of a decorative column next to the church’s main entrance has lost up to 2.7 inches of its limestone surface since 1960, said Robert Warden, director of the university’s Center for Heritage Conservation. The base of each of the four columns were originally rectangular and solid, with carved features that “now look scooped,” he said.  “It’s clear from photos of the building in the 1930s that material loss was already well underway,” he said.

The decomposition rate on one column “adds up to a significant amount, especially if that rate increases in the future,” said Warden, one of at least seven experts slated to speak at the center’s 14th annual Historic Preservation Symposium, “The Alamo: Structure of History,” Feb. 20-21 in College Station.

Online registration for the Symposium runs through Feb. 18 and is $10 for students, $20 for faculty and the general public and $100 for professionals.  For more information visit  http://chc.arch.tamu.edu/