Gary Vikan

"Memoir by former Director of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore reveals what goes on behind the scenes. Shocking and comical backstories include tales of failed exhibitions, looted antiquities, fakes, and inside jobs of theft and bribery among a cast of crooked dealers, deluded collectors, and duplicitous public officials"--

confessions of a museum director

Sacred and stolen

Dumbarton Oaks

These sculptures reflect the Blisses' wide-ranging tastes and extraordinary connoisseurship. About a quarter are Greco-Roman; nearly two-thirds of the rest are Late Antique, mostly limestone carvings from Early Byzantine Egypt. Sculpture from the Middle Byzantine period is very rare, making the four pieces in this collection especially significant.

Catalogue of the Sculpture in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection from the Ptolemaic Period to the Renaissance

In his fascinating book, Vikan shows us that, Graceland is a locus sanctus —a holy place— and Elvis is its resident saint, while the hordes of fans that crowd Elvis Presley Boulevard in Memphis are modern-day pilgrims, connected in spirit and practice to their early Christian counterparts, sharing a fascination for icons and iconography, relics, souvenirs, votives, and even a belief in miracles.

Gary Vikan

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