by Deborah Cardona (thanks to Charlotte Lin)
I don’t think people understand what we are talking about when we say the Kennedy Center needs to be protected. This isn’t just a theater. It isn’t an old building somebody can gut, redecorate, rename, rearrange and then tell us, “Don’t worry, we improved it.”
The building IS part of the memorial.
Start with the marble. Italy gave the United States roughly 3,500 tons of Carrara marble for the Kennedy Center. Not Home Depot tile. Carrara marble, from the same historic quarry tradition associated with Michelangelo. The gift was pledged during John F. Kennedy’s 1963 visit to Italy, only months before he was assassinated.
Then look around the building. France gave us two Matisse tapestries. Austria gave the Opera House chandeliers. Norway gave the Concert Hall chandeliers. Sweden gave the Grand Foyer chandeliers. Ireland gave crystal. Belgium gave the enormous mirrors. Canada gave the Eisenhower Theater curtain. Japan gave the Opera House curtain. Germany, Great Britain, Denmark and other nations contributed sculpture, furnishings and works of art.
Think about what that means.
Countries around the world helped build America’s memorial to John F. Kennedy.
They didn’t send gift cards. They sent marble, crystal, tapestries, sculpture and craftsmanship representing their own cultures. Those objects became part of the building and part of the memorial. And the building itself matters. It was designed by Edward Durell Stone, one of the major American architects of his generation, and it has been recognized as historically significant architecture. So before anybody starts ripping things out, covering things up, moving artwork, changing ceremonial spaces or deciding some original feature looks “dated,” we need to know exactly what is there.
Inventory it. Photograph it. Document it. Identify every diplomatic gift. Identify every original architectural element. Identify what belongs to the Kennedy memorial itself.
Do that FIRST. Because restoration can be repaired. Bad taste can eventually be corrected. But once original historic material is destroyed, it’s gone. You cannot replace a diplomatic gift from 1963 with something new and pretend it is the same thing. You cannot rip out the marble and order “historic-looking marble.” You cannot remove a Matisse, change the architecture around it and claim nothing important happened. And you certainly should not alter a national memorial first and ask the preservation questions afterward.
This building belongs to American history.
Parts of it were given to us by the world.
Before anyone touches it, protect it.
#kennedycenter