Unibrow Radio: A Ghost in the Gallery, Pt 3—The Smithsonian Castle

A few years ago in Paris, I found myself in the Montmartre Cemetery on a sunny afternoon. It’s not as renowned as Père Lachaise, where people flock to pay their respects to Jim Morrison or Oscar Wilde. Montmartre is a bit more quiet, which may be an odd thing to say about a cemetery. I sat on a bench, drinking wine out of a bottle, reading a book, and tried not to get spooked by every leaf that moved out the corner of my eye. Before you side eye me, did you know that cemeteries often functioned as our first public parks? In the nineteenth century, garden cemeteries became places not only for burial, but for strolling, picnicking, and quiet reflection. A place to reflect on death, yes, but more to reflect on life. 

Looking around I became more curious about the artistry of gravestones, which feels like a very under-recognized art form. How do you begin to approach a single object that will represent the entirety of a soul’s existence? And not just for a moment, but in perpetuity. I found my way to Degas’s grave by chance, beckoned by the desire to see who lay inside the mausoleum with the pretty pink ballet shoes hanging from the door. I’ve always loved Degas. Maybe a bit of a cliché, but I can’t help it. I remember as a teenager going to the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. where I looked with awe at Little Dancer of Fourteen Years. There I was, a decade later, just a crypt door away from this beloved artist's final resting place. I put my hand on its stone walls, said my thank-yous, and tried not to look over my shoulder as I walked away. 

You may already have an idea of where you’d like your final resting place to be, but have you thought about the adornment that might mark it? What objects and symbols define your life? What words would you like for people to remember you by? 

What if that tombstone existed inside a museum? In fact, inside the symbolic heart of our nation’s largest museum complex: the Smithsonian Castle. Inside this magnificent building lies the tomb of James Smithson, the founding donor of the institution that bears his name.

On this episode of The Unibrow Radio, we continue our Ghost in the Gallery series, where we look beyond the art inside our beloved cultural institutions, to the things that can’t quite be explained. Today, I speak with Carly Bond, Associate Director of Architectural History and Historic Preservation, about a personal experience she had in the Smithsonian Castle, currently undergoing the largest historic preservation project in the Institution’s history. One that may have also awakened some of the museum's longer-term residents. After all, renovations have a way of unburying the past. Sometimes, perhaps, a little more literally than intended.

–– Shaquille Heath

You can learn more about the Smithsonian’s Institution's vast offerings at SI.edu.