Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
they've also amassed an impressive contemporary-art collection that spans the last 30
years. The most admirable quality of this collection is its commitment to not just display-
ing one or two of its artists' pieces; the museum's aim is to showcase a contributor's entire
career.
Miami City Cemetery
CEMETERY
This quiet graveyard, the final resting place of some of Miami-Dade's most important cit-
izens, is a sort of narrative of the history of the city cast in bone, dirt and stone. The dicho-
tomy of the past and modernity gets a nice visual representation in the form of looming
condos shadowing the last abode of the Magic City's late, great ones. More than 9000
graves are divided into separate white, black and Jewish sections. Buried here are mayors,
veterans (including about 90 Confederate soldiers) and the godmother of South Florida,
Julia Tuttle, who purchased the first orange groves that attracted settlers to the area.
Living Room
PUBLIC ART
Just to remind you that you're entering the Design District is a big, honking public-art in-
stallation of, yep, a living room - just the sort of thing you're supposed to shop for while
you're here. Actually this Living Room, by Argentine husband-and-wife team Roberto Be-
har and Rosario Marquardt, is an 'urban intervention' meant to be a criticism of the disap-
pearance of public space, but we think it serves as a nice metaphor for the Design District
as a whole: a contemporary interior plopped into the middle of urban decay.
Bacardi Building
ARCHITECTURE
You don't need to down 151 to appreciate the former Miami headquarters of the world's
largest family-owned spirits company, Bacardi. The main event is a beautifully decorated
tower that looks like the mosaic pattern of a tropical bathhouse multiplied by infinity.
