St. Augustine, Florida
March 10, 2022
The Lightner Museum occupies the structure of the former Hotel Alcazar, a Gilded Age resort commissioned for construction by Henry Flagler in the late 1800s. Spanning three floors and over a dozen galleries and exhibits, the museum highlights a plethora of Gilded Age artifacts, including European glasswork, ornate furniture, musical devices, sculptures, paintings, and Native American relics. The museum also houses displays of seashells and precious stones, and contains a ballroom situated above the former location of the hotel’s pool, which now functions as a café. The building is one of the most iconic landmarks in downtown St. Augustine, and its signature Spanish Renaissance Revival style serves as a historic testament to the very city it resides in.
Official website: https://lightnermuseum.org/
Exterior Image 1
Exterior Image 2
Artifact Image 1
This is an oil on canvas portrait of Louis XVIII, the last of the Sun Kings of France, thought to have been done by Louis XVI's personally-ordained painter, Antoine-Francois Callet. The portrait depicts Louis XVIII in traditional French regalia commonly used by both the monarchs who preceded him, as well as by the two who would succeed him before the monarchy was abolished in 1848. The king ruled from 1814 to 1824--just under a decade--and was the last French monarch to die while still reigning, but still helped France improve financially and politically in many ways. First exhibited in Paris in 1817, this painting was eventually purchased by Mary Frick Jacobs, the notable patron of the arts in New York. Following her art collection being auctioned off in 1941, the painting was bought from a collector in California and eventually came to reside in Florida.
Artifact Image 2
This is a stained glass window panel depicting St. Augustine (354-430 AD), done by Tiffany Studios, the prized workshop of Louis Comfort Tiffany. A remarkable American artist, Tiffany based his stained glass work on the creations of various European decorative artists across Europe and Northern Africa, while also infusing his own personal style. His glass company required specialized individuals to translate his unique ideas into glasswork, and all artwork created by the company is not identified by individual names. This lead glass panel was created in the early 1900s, and depicts St. Augustine as a bishop adorned in and surrounded by pontifical vestments, including a mitre (a theological headdress), a crozier (a staff which resembles a shepherd's crook), and an open book, which symbolizes wisdom and the acquisition of knowledge.
Image in Conversation 1
Image source: https://www.exploreasheville.com/iconic-asheville/biltmore/
The Biltmore House is located within the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, and is the largest privately-owned house in the United States. George Washington Vanderbilt II, a descendant of American business magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, commissioned the house's construction in 1889, and it was opened in 1895. His daughter Cornelia Vanderbilt opened the house to the public in 1930, and it has since become a National Historic Landmark, bringing in over one million visitors annually. The mansion is built in a Chateauesque architectural style, and contains 250 rooms, including 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, galleries, kitchens, a conservatory, a dining hall, a bowling alley, a gymnasium, and an indoor, underground swimming pool. The lattermost feature is shared with the Lightner Museum, though both pools are now dried up in the present day. Both the Biltmore House and the Lightner Museum were also Gilded Age architectural marvels commissioned by individuals with connections to some of the most significant business magnates of their time.
Image in Conversation 2
Image source: http://kudosnb.com/the-most-amazing-christmas-trees-in-the-world/
This is a photo of a glass Christmas tree situated in Venice, Italy. The 26-foot-tall tree was designed by Simon Cenedese in 2006, and is made up of 1,000 glass tubes and 2,000 metal rods. Glassworks like this one are made on the nearby island of Murano, and the glass itself is uniquely thin and extra fragile. The distinctly vibrant coloration can be produced by embedded gold dust, lace work, and applied fruits or flowers. Many samples of Venetian glass are on display in the Lightner Museum, but instead have been translated into goblets, dishes, bowls, vases, and other forms of tableware.
Literature in Conversation
In Craig Santos Perez's "[lukao]", the conflicting cultures of the United States and Guam are addressed in relation to Guam's traditional midwife birthing practices. Perez writes, "In 1907, the U.S. Navy medical officers started to regulate, certify, and license Chamorro midwives. Public law also determined midwife fees and wages..." (Perez, 37). This example shows how the United States tended to trample on the traditions and lifestyles of minorities for nearly two centuries in favor of establishing a common "American standard". The presence of Native American artifacts in the Lightner Museum contrasts heavily with this notion, as similar to the people of Guam, Native Americans had been forced off of their land for decades as Americans expanded westward in the 1800s. Having these items respectfully displayed is inconsistent with how Americans have harshly treated natives historically. Perhaps even more ironically, these artifacts are displayed in the Hotel Alcazar, which itself had been constructed right on top of a living marshland and creek. These actions illustrate the American desire to overwrite the natural land with facilities that are more suitable to forward progress. Thus, while there are now increased efforts to preserve the cultures of people oppressed or marginalized throughout the history of the United States, the sins of America's past occasionally resurface even today.
Creative Component
Haikus - The Sight of Oppression
Inside the fortress
Of song, glass, paint, shell, and stone
Within the stone walls
Of ambition's selfish drive
We glimpse at our past
Amidst the relics
Of a past both bold and cruel
