When Atlantis sank beneath the waves, and I have no doubt that Plato was reporting an actual event however long after the event, it joined every other low lying or coastal civilisation lost to history. The Caribbean and the Mediterranean show plenty of evidence of drowned walls and structures that once housed people to say nothing of the odd volcano wiping out a major city or even a tornado ripping through the Gulf of Mexico and engulfing New Orleans in floodwaters. Of course, for centuries Venetians have fought the sea with any manner of barrages and floodwalls and still floodwaters wash St Mark’s Square periodically. Rising sea levels due to human activity just add to the litany. Unfortunately, humanity insists on building its art museums, those bastions of cultural identity, on coastlines, rivers and in the case of California, on fault lines, and then complaining about the cost of preservation.
Humanity is enamoured of the idea of making sure that the next generation understands what has been achieved by the previous ones even if, as in the case of the Elgin Marbles, it had to organise major smash and grab raids of ancient sites and secrete the appropriations in the vaults of colonial powers. The Thames hasn’t flooded in some time [thanks to the elaborate flood barriers] but predictions of rising sea levels may well turn swathes of the UK, Holland and the Mediterranean countries into lakes and the British Museum, the Tate [ the Margate version is actually on a spit of Channel land], The Louvre and countless river cities will all be in the firing line. Just look at the fuss surrounding the incineration of Notre Dame and the billions poured into the rebuilding fund [if the promised money actually comes to pass] and it is obvious that cultural artefacts rate higher than say, the plight of people about to become another casualty to rising sea levels out in the Pacific – but then again, there are no major art museums to western art on Fiji and Tuvalu. No doubt when the imminent time comes, some museum may well swoop in and gather up local artefacts for the sake of humanity while leaving the islanders to find alternative accommodation. It’s all a matter of priorities.
A report from the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) lists the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia as under threat from flood while the Institute of Museum and Library Services shows that more than one-third of U.S. museums and related organizations are within 60 miles of a coastline, or beside a river, with a quarter of those in imminent danger, to say nothing of the museum-rich city of Washington D.C. rich in historical significance to Americans and home of George Washington. When the Potomac inevitably floods, George could be getting his feet wet.
Some institutions have taken the bull by the horns and poured money into the problem. The Pérez Art Museum in Miami didn’t wait for another storm and when the $131 million Herzog & de Meuron museum opened adjacent to the Atlantic shoreline, hurricane-resistant glass panes that could stand up to Category 5 storms were installed and it isn’t the only institution spending big money to address the problem.[1]
The century old Vizcaya Museum and Gardens protected its basement cafe and gift shop, with submarine doors and aquarium glass to the tune of half a million dollars [can’t have the gift shop flooding after all when there are tourists to be fleeced].
“I’ve thought a lot about how you mitigate the risk,” said Lial Jones, director of the Crocker Art Museum. “We moved our collections to the second and third floor”. Nothing like a proverbial ivory tower for the preservation of Art – but then again, Babel collapsed under the weight of its own cultural and linguistic ambitions. “We’re going to lose some history,” he said. “We already have. The question is how much we have to lose to save the rest.”
Erik Neil, director of Norfolk’s Chrysler Museum has a plan to raise the streets around the museum and elevate its glass studio by three metres. Really? “It does keep you awake at night,” he said. Undoubtedly ambitious, but then again, if the funds from wealthy patrons are in place, why not.
Just to put all of this into perspective. In 2020 there were 37.2 million people living in poverty in the USA, approximately 3.3 million more than in 2019 [2]. However, this number was calculated, that number is more than the entire population of Australia and upwards of half the population of the UK who no doubt have their own statistics. One museum upgrade would alleviate that problem but then again, who are we to argue priorities when it comes to cultural preservation?
Even Noah, much vaunted survivor of existential flooding, was instructed to preserve only human and animal kind. No mention was made of Art or antiquities. No doubt if Rubens, Michaelangelo and Pollock had been around at the time, there would have been an extra deck added to the ark well above the Plimsol Line [that’s the line painted on ship hulls to indicate maximum loading levels] just to ensure the future of civilisation. You have to wonder what future generations beyond the next apocalypse will make of surviving buildings lined with submarine doors and museum glass. No doubt their construction will be attributed to either aliens or primitive peoples with exceptional engineering skills and their purpose as temples to unknown gods.
[1] Brian Boucher, August 31, 2021 Artnet.