Smithson Crypt, Smithsonian Castle. December 2021 The strange story of James Smithson and the creation of the Smithsonian Institution always fascinated me. What if? .A boy is born illegitimately (and secretly) to an English Duke of Northumberland and a widowed, aristocratic mother, a Percy, of royal English descent in Paris. Paris is a hotbed of politics and intrigue in 1765, so the family whisks him off to the motherland. There, he studies at Oxford and distinguishes h

National Gallery of Art - East Wing. December 2021 Of memories and dynasties The National Gallery of Art's East Wing opened June 1, 1978, the design offspring of the prolific I.M.Pei. The first non-neoclassical building on the Mall was greeted with much fanfare. I arrived in Washington a year later, so the gallery itself was still a "phenomenon". I remember being impressed by the stark clean lines and towering spaces. The connecting tunnel under 4th Street and its peopl