JP2 Off-Center - the design of the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, D.C

National Review, August 6, 2001 by Catesby Leigh

I recently spent a few hours at the new Pope John Paul II Cultural Center, located near Catholic University and the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. At the center's opening in March, President Bush declared that it "stands for the dignity of the human person, the value of every life, and the splendor of truth."

And yet the transcendent significance of which the president spoke did not seem to jibe with the design concept outlined shortly before the opening by Edwin Schlossberg, who concocted the center's permanent multimedia exhibits. "What we did is really similar in function to a cathedral, where the stories were told in the windows and the carvings," Schlossberg told the New York Times. "Only there, the ideas were fixed. We've made a kind of collaborative cathedral."

A Gothic cathedral embodies the authority of revealed truth through the medium of a great artistic tradition, telling the story of salvation while evoking the majesty of God's creation. Its intricate spires and pinnacles rise toward the heavens like trees, while the tendril-like ribbing of the lofty interior vaults suggests a sublime forest canopy. Cavernous portals are encrusted with statues of saints and Biblical scenes; inside, vast spaces draped in shadow convey a sense of infinite mystery, punctuated by the brilliant polychromy of stained glass. Only the construction and decoration of such great monuments to the faith are "collaborative" matters.

Alas, apparently convinced that the timelessness epitomized by the cathedrals of old is out of reach, the designers of the JP2 (as the center is informally known) strove for timeliness. The result is $65 million worth of postmodern gimmickry.

Architecturally, the center doesn't remotely resemble a cathedral. Its awkward chevron-shaped roof is perched on struts and sheathed in greenish patinated copper, while a large cylindrical volume that includes the main entrance bulges at one end. The building, a friend suggested, would make a dandy airport terminal. A 75-foot gilded cross is affixed at the building's far end, piercing the chevron roof. The cross's placement, like so much else about this curious structure, seems perfectly random and arbitrary.

The JP2's interior includes a top-floor "intercultural forum" for scholars, as well as familiar museum amenities such as gift shops and a cafe. The Pope himself is honored with an entry-level gallery that includes mementos of his life as priest, prelate, and pontiff. This level also features a Gallery of Mary, which includes a metal scaffold covered with printed images and text depicting a half-dozen cults of the Virgin. Nearby, a "World Family Mural" is mounted on screens in a great arc along the gallery. The life-size photographs show Catholics from around the world, just standing there in front of a camera.

Long, gently tilted ramps lead up from the entry level to the temporary exhibit space on the second floor, where artifacts from the Vatican collections are displayed, and down to the main portion of the permanent exhibits. On the way down, there are series of bronze casts of people's hands-taken, again, from Catholics all over the world- starting with the Pope's. The casts are accompanied by inspirational quotations and a sign that says, "Please feel free to touch the hands." This installation, like others at the JP2, reflects the contemporary Christian penchant for lowering the faith's emotional horizons to the level of the maudlin sentimentality infusing the secular culture. It was almost encouraging to observe the insouciance with which a noisy band of schoolchildren ran their hands along the casts while dashing down the ramps.

One exits the ramps into a lower lobby that is a model of spatial disorientation, with a curving wall veering off to one side, and a tilted wall sloping down on the other. A short, claustrophobic corridor leads you into the large space containing five Schlossberg-designed galleries. The abiding impression of this space is one of clutter. You look up to an industrial tangle of dropped ceilings, exposed systems, track lighting, and hemispherical plastic canopies with speakers inside. Suspended photographic and artistic images hang all around, and at eye level a plethora of video screens flash. It's like a Nobody Beats the Wiz designed by Frank Gehry.

The Gallery of Church and Papal History serves as the spine, with the four other galleries-labeled Faith, Imagination, Community, and Wonder- arranged on either side. The galleries offer a variety of printed, videotaped, and computerized documentary materials. Timelines are everywhere, with the longest relating all the papacies to world events. The narrative mentions the less glorious or more contentious aspects of papal history, acknowledging, for example, the "corruption and excess" of Renaissance popes, the "abuses" of the Spanish Inquisition, and allegations that Pius XII "was not explicit enough in condemning Nazi atrocities."

Computer terminals allow the visitor to "experience the Bible in a new way" by hearing Scripture read to the accompaniment of multimedia montages and music ranging from Baroque chorale to New Age tribal percussion. One may study world religions on the Web, explore Catholic doctrine, and research opportunities for community service. There are also stations where the visitor can record a testimonial of his own faith, hope for the future, or enthusiasm for community service as video, audio, text, or (in the case of children) drawing. Videotaped testimonials run continuously, and screens display texts and drawings as well.