Quote:
Originally Posted by Los Angeles Past
Interesting. Seems kind of self-defeating, though, to erect a structure to ostensibly protect the mural that also has the effect of obscuring it from view. And the modernist design looks horribly out-of-place (and time). Gahhh.  |
Well it was never really viewable from the ground anyway. There will be a viewing platform from which to see the mural at eye level. To further protect it, the mural will also not be exposed all the time - it has a cover which contains a digitally-printed image of the mural. The mural itself is being left as a ghost image so the reproduction on the cover will actually be a truer representation of what it originally looked like. They've done what conservation/restoration they could, but the whitewash faded it badly.
http://www.getty.edu/conservation/ou...ros/index.html
I think it bears remembering that Olvera Street itself was a contrivance, an alley that got turned into a tourist trap. It has some wonderful old buildings but they have been repurposed and changed throughout their existence. They don't line up with each other because you're looking at their backsides, and they are largely obscured by 85 hojillion vendor stalls. The whole thing was out of place and time even when it was 'new' in the early 1930s. A big cover and some shades over what was once an industrial shop and storage space doesn't really seem like a violation to me.