Slate -The city government had enough foresight to remove lampposts along the parade route to make way for the convoys of armored vehicles. Less anticipated was the damage wrought as 67-ton tanks rolled over (and through) the hot asphalt on Constitution Avenue. The treaded vehicles pounded a deeply rutted tattoo into the roadway, which had been designed to carry a gross vehicle weight of just over 30 tons, and was further softened that day by the 85-degree heat.
One of the more poetic vignettes took shape as a flock of combat helicopters roared over the Capitol and approached their ceremonial landing zone. Spinning rotor blades kicked up a dust storm along the pathways lining the National Mall. Bits of gravel and dirt sprayed like machine-gun fire, accidentally hosing the adjacent Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden. The most serious casualty of artistic friendly fire was Aristide Maillol’s Nymph (Central Figure for “The Three Graces”). The nude bronze had her back riddled with pockmarks and scratches from the fusillade.
... Washington’s last military parade left in its wake 1.2 million pounds of garbage, $12 million in bills, and literal scars on the city’s public art and infrastructure.
1 comment:
I remember the scars on Constitution Avenue but didn't know the Hirshhorn sculptures had been blasted &@#$!
The Hirshhorn is like a doughnut, a three story circular building with an off center fountain in its courtyard. The spout of the fountain bowl is also offset a like amount within it.
If you are so fortunate as to be able to ride your bicycles around the fountain, as my brother and I were on the Fourth of July just before Constitution Gardens opened (the huge artificial lake where the Main Navy temporary buildings were), the echos off the inner walls create the illusion of riding in a wave, enhanced by the spray from the fountain.
But at the time of this parade, on June 8, 1991, "we" were supposed to be celebrating a Desert Storm victory. What is the cause celeb this time? 21 Trillion in unaccounted for funds?
Also, if I were in charge of raising money for the current Olympics, I'd raise twice as much and find a way to get it to the people of North Korea, so they didn't have to eat dirt. Or maybe that was just a myth...
Before you louse it up "thimk" ...
Cheers, Tom Puckett
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