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Barbara A. Wolanin didn’t leave her television much Wednesday afternoon, looking terrified, she said, as hundreds of Trump rioters rushed into the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol building where eight large paintings historical frames are hung.
She was curator for the architect of the Capitol, the office that preserves and maintains the art and architecture of the building. She knew much better than most of the horrible possibilities that presented themselves.
What if the rioters reduced John Trumbull’s “Declaration of Independence,” one of the great paintings from the early 1800s that depicts the Americans’ struggle for freedom? Or smashed the bronze bust of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.?
“All the art of the Capitol is essentially visible,” said Dr Wolanin, 77, who was curator of the Capitol architect from 1985 until his retirement in 2015. “There isn’t a lot of hidden things. “
For nearly four hours, the collection she had spent more than 30 years caring for was at the mercy of a mob that broke into rooms on the south side of the Capitol (including the office of the President of the Nancy Pelosi Room), smashed windows and then walked through National Statuary Hall, waving American, Confederate and “Trump is my President” flags.
Their stay in the building is now represented by the damage they left behind. A 19th-century marble bust of former President Zachary Taylor was spotted with what appeared to be blood. A photo frame was left on the ground, the image disappeared.
The photos and videos, some taken indoors by the rioters themselves, were startling. One man crammed a framed photo of the Dalai Lama into his backpack, while another smoked marijuana in a room with maps of Oregon on the wall. A man in a leather jacket tore up a parchment with Chinese characters.
“Yeah, look at all that fancy furniture they have!” said a man in a winter parka and a red hat.
By the time Capitol Police secured the building at around 6 p.m., the windows and doors of the historic building had been smashed, offices had been ransacked and some furniture had been damaged, knocked over or looted.
Detailed damage assessments from the Capitol Architect or the U.S. Capitol Police have yet to be released. But the singular works of art that curators regard as the building’s treasures do not appear to have sustained major damage.
It could have been a lot worse, said Dr Wolanin.
His greatest concern were the 18-foot large-scale paintings by Trumbull and other artists that depict scenes from the founding of the republic in the rotunda, and the dozens of statues that fill the National Statuary Hall to the south.
“The Apotheosis of Washington,” a fresco on the ceiling of the Rotunda that shows the country’s first president flanked by Liberty, Victory, Science, War and other allegorical figures, was inaccessible safely.
Particularly vulnerable was the National Statuary Hall south of the Rotunda, which contains 35 statues of prominent Americans, part of a collection of 100 statues on the Capitol – two from each of the 50 states – which commemorate notable figures like Samuel Adams, Rosa Parks and Thomas Edison.
The Capitol’s collection of paintings also includes works by artists such as Thomas Crawford and Constantino Brumidi, with a mix of portraits and landscapes. George Washington’s original paintings, such as the one in the Old Senate Chamber, are among the most valuable.
The building itself is a work of art, a model of Neoclassical architecture designed by Dr. William Thornton in the late 1700s and completed by Boston architect Charles Bulfinch in 1826. But in the height of the world riot, people climbed its exterior using ropes, while others used poles as rams to open an entrance. Inside, a pro-Trump loyalist posed on the Senate dais while another hung from the bedroom balcony.
The history of the Capitol as a location is captured in the hallway of the Hall of Capitols in the House wing, in a series of murals by Allyn Cox. Eight milestones from the building’s first 65 years and portraits of the nine men appointed Architecte du Capitole between 1793 and 1995 adorn the ceilings.
Dr Wolanin said it was the first time that the Capitol’s collection had been threatened on this scale. Although individual rooms have suffered “a little” damage in the past, such as when an armed man broke into the building in 1998 and killed two police officers and injured a tourist before being captured, the latest violation by a large violent group of people were during the War of 1812 almost 200 years ago, when British troops set the building on fire.
“They had no respect for any of these things,” Dr Wolanin said of the mobs that ransacked the building on Wednesday. “That’s what’s really scary.”
Some historic conservatives discussed the damage on Thursday, including whether any part of it should be left as the historic marker of the day.
Anthony Veerkamp, former director of policy development for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, said some of the physical damage must be preserved “as a reminder that our monuments, institutions and values are all vulnerable and must be constantly supported. . ”
But he noted it was important to do it in a way that didn’t grant rioters hero status.
“It is important not to inadvertently create a shrine that appears to commemorate the insurgents,” he said.
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