Lather, Neocon DID say "greatest museum COMPLEX in the world." I'm with him if he really means "greatest free, state-supported COMPLEX of interconnected museums."
There are some excellent private museums in Washington -- the Corcoran, for example, and the Phillips. But it is that huge complex of free museums grouped around the Mall, exhibiting everything from space technology to African art, that makes Washington such a standout.
St. Petersburg, for example, can't compare. The Hermitage, of course, is one of the world's greatest museums. But there is hardly any post-Impressionist modern art or non-European art there, or in any other museum in the city. Furthermore, state funding has dried up almost entirely, and the consequences, for existing collections, have been disastrous.
Joan |
