And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 15:29:26 -0500 To: Ishgooda <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Groundbreaking set for National Museum of the American Indian Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" 7/21/99 -- 2:10 PM Groundbreaking set for National Museum of the American Indian ------------------------------------------------------------------------ WASHINGTON (AP) - After 10 years of planning, fund raising and fighting over architecture, groundbreaking for the National Museum of the American Indian is set to begin Sept. 28. The five-story structure will occupy a 4.3 acre site between the Capitol and the Washington Monument. It will be the last available spot on the Mall - right next to the Air and Space Museum, the most popular showplace of the Smithsonian Institution's 17 facilities. Last year museum officials there counted 28 million visitors. Douglas J. Cardinal, a Canadian of Blackfoot Indian ancestry, designed the unusual curving structure with an overhanging roof and undulating walls of rough-hewn limestone. It recalls the cliffs where native Americans built multistory houses in the Southwest. Windows are positioned to catch the sunlight during the solstices. ``It would have been silly to build an American Indian museum with a lot of Greek columns,'' said J. Carter Brown, chairman of the capital's Commission on Fine Arts. The Smithsonian has invited 554 leaders of recognized tribes to the ceremonial space, named the Potomac - like the nearby river - where some will bless the building and grounds. Landscaping will reflect a variety of American Indian territories including some wetland, said Leonda Levchuk of the museum's public affairs office. The 250,000 square foot building is scheduled to open in late 2002. The Indian museum was long a landmark in uptown Manhattan. In 1989 it became part of the Smithsonian and five years later moved to its present spot in the old Customs House near New York's Battery district. Congress approved the project for Washington and has appropriated $39 million. Originally estimated at $110 million, the total cost is now expected to run higher. Some $36.7 million from private sources has been raised, Ms. Levchuk said. Moving is under way for more than 800,000 artifacts and other pieces - the world's most comprehensive collection of Indian materials - to the Smithsonian's Cultural Resources Center in suburban Suitland, Md. Groundbreaking was delayed a year by the firing of Cardinal in a contract dispute. Though Cardinal's basic design will be used, a new architectural firm added a large, thick column to hold up the roof. But then that column was eliminated in the model the commission unanimously approved last month. Copyright 1999 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ UPDATES: CAMP JUSTICE http://shell.webbernet.net/~ishgooda/oglala/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
