[CPProt.net] Cherished art, artifacts may have been lost in hurricane

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

Cherished art, artifacts may have been lost in hurricane
September 4, 2005

By Mary Carole McCauley

Baltimore Sun


How do you reclaim a ruined treasure?

Once Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters have receded, the dead have been buried
and the cleanup has begun, the people of Louisiana and Mississippi may face
yet another devastating blow: the destruction of cherished artworks and
historical documents.

In Biloxi, Miss., for instance, Beauvoir, the former home of Confederate
President Jefferson Davis, has been badly damaged, officials said.

The situation in New Orleans is harder to assess because practically the
entire city is a museum, and much of it was still underwater as of press
time. Still, some news -- not good but not awful -- was trickling in.

The buildings that make up the Louisiana State Museums sustained some
damage, but ``the collections are in better shape than feared,'' according
to curator Tamra Carboni, who is quoted on the American Association of
Museums Web site.

The New Orleans Museum of Art, which sits on high ground and a raised
foundation, survived the hurricane and flood, but its director, John
Bullard, is worried about the sculpture garden. And the Ogden Museum of
Southern Art initially was reported to be unscathed -- but that was before
the levees broke and communications ceased.

``Not even counting the French Quarter, every part of New Orleans has
incredible historic resources,'' said John Hildreth, director of the
National Trust for Historic Preservation. ``It's absolutely gut-wrenching to
see this destruction on top of the human suffering.''

Members of the Heritage Emergency National Task Force were scheduled to meet
via conference call to start coming up with a plan for assessing the damage
to artworks and historical documents. But it may be weeks or months before
the full loss is known, said Dennis Fiori of the Maryland Historical
Society.

Hildreth said Beauvoir, a 1 1/2-story home built on a slight rise, was under
up to 30 feet of water at one point.

``It's maybe 500 yards from the beach, ground zero in Biloxi,'' he said.
``We'd heard at first that it had been destroyed, but I found out today that
it's still standing on its foundations. The galleries (porches) are gone,
and there has been significant damage to the house. We don't know yet how
all the papers in Davis' presidential library have fared.''

The Historic Trust asked the National Guard to be posted at the site to
deter looters.

New Orleans, frequently described as the most European city in America, has
more than 40 museums, including the Musee Conti Wax Museum, Historic Voodoo
Museum and Historic New Orleans Collection, a treasure trove of fragile
maps, photographs and other antique documents.

And that doesn't count the privately owned Gitter-Yelen Art Study Center,
with its collection of Japanese art from the 17th through the 19th
centuries.

A few days before Katrina hit, New Orleans' museums sent out e-mail messages
to institutions in other cities requesting emergency storage space,
according to Laura Lindsay, interim executive director of the Louisiana
State University Museum of Art. ``A lot of work was done to get art in safe
places before the hurricane came through,'' she said.

Hildreth said a surprising number of precious artifacts can be repaired --
if they aren't stolen.

In 1966 -- when the Arno River flooded and swamped Florence, Italy -- about
1,500 artworks, many dating back centuries, were disfigured or destroyed.

Thousands of volunteers, dubbed ``mud angels,'' came from around the world
and worked 10 to 14 hours a day to help save the city's masterpieces.

Hildreth says he is heartened that he has begun to receive similar offers.

``Pages and canvas can dry out,'' he said. ``Mud can be washed off. It's
painstaking, and it can take decades, but in some cases, it can be done.''