Stone Deaf and Blind

In a city full of zealous preservationists, why can't we halt the desecration of a medieval monument?

A A A Comments By Matt Smith Wednesday, Jan 10 2001

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While it's unlikely the Strybing wall will ever be disassembled and placed in a museum where it belongs, there's still time to save the other 300 or so stones still in the park. If citizens told their supervisors they were outraged by the arboretum's actions -- which Italian medieval restorationist Gharamani calls the worst act of desecration of a medieval monument during the last half-century -- our elected officials might take action. They might order the Park Department to give the stones over to a more appropriate curator.

In doing so, they might show that as a city, San Francisco really does care about respecting history, and that historical preservation isn't just an excuse neighbors sometimes use when they don't want buildings blocking their windows.

Amy Douglas

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"It's the public of San Francisco who should care about this," Kempf says. "But nobody does. That's what's so fascinating. How come we have all these highly educated people, and nobody seems to recognize these things?"

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