The Great Mausoleum Art TourOur longtime customer, Forest Lawn-Glendale Memorial Park, was recently featured in AAA magazine for hosting The Great Mausoleum Art Tour. Forest Lawn Memorial Park is a privately owned cemetery in Glendale, California that is known for their grand museums that display art, artifacts and they also regularly host rotating fine art exhibits. They are also famous for being the final resting place of many Hollywood stars.
Only a portion of The Great Mausoleum is normally open to the public but Forest Lawn occasionally hosts an admission-free tour where you can come see full-size marble replicas of Michelangelo’s La Pieta (pictured to the right) and Moses. Although the main entrance to the mausoleum is usually guarded, the public can always come to see an unveiling of The Last Supper Window which is a 30′ x 15′ recreation of Da Vinci’s The Last Supper on stained glass. The unveiling is done every half hour and there is no admission charge.
Since the artwork was now going to be open to the public for a short period of time, Forest Lawn wanted interior signage to display titles of the artwork, description of the artwork, and other information like maps of the museum. They came to us because they wanted something that would match the ambiance of the museum.
Making the Podiums
We made a total of 13 podium stands to be displayed throughout the museum. Most museums have a placard attached to the wall next to each art piece. Those placards can be hard to read unless you’re close to them and do not always suit the decor of the room. As you can see from the photos, this museum does not have typical drywall, the walls are made from stone so a wall placard would disturb the aesthetic. The pillars would also make it difficult to install something onto the wall that a patron would walk up to.
We powder coated each podium gold and made the base 3-tiered to add aesthetic appeal. For the faceplate, we started with a 1/4″ piece of aluminum. Each podium had different information to display which we digitally printed onto high-quality poster paper and laid onto the faceplate. It was not adhered so the information could be changed in the future if needed. On top of the poster paper, we laid clear acrylic which we drilled each corner for gold standoffs to match the rest of the podium.
Podiums are an elegant way to display information and the ones we made match the overall decor of the interior. With any interior signage, it is important to keep a theme. Having the same design style for every room ID sign gives an office a professional and streamlined look.
If you’re interested in having us assist you with the design, fabrication, and installation of signs for your business, you can request a quote here.