A painting is removed from the Biblical Arts Center in Dallas after a six-alarm fire Tuesday. On Wednesday, investigators interviewed a "person of interest" in the case.
Fire officials Wednesday continued to investigate the cause of a Tuesday fire that did an estimated $2 million in damage to the Biblical Arts Center, a museum in north Dallas that featured artwork and exhibits inspired by the Bible.
On Wednesday, investigators contacted a man whom they called a "person of interest" in the six-alarm fire.
Fire rescue spokesman Lt. Joel Lavender said the man was interviewed and allowed to go home Wednesday afternoon. He said the man was the same person who construction workers reported Tuesday had run from the area moments before the fire was spotted.
Much of the center's exhibits were damaged or destroyed, including the massive Miracle at Pentecost, a painting taken from Acts 2 of the Bible. The mural is a complete loss, museum officials said.
The center is in the 7500 block of Park Lane, just west of Northpark Mall. Operated by the Miracle at Pentecost Foundation, it is a nonprofit, nondenominational organization founded by the late Dallas philanthropist Mattie Caruth Byrd to fulfill her dream of providing people of all faiths with the opportunity to view biblically inspired art, according to the center's Web site.
The Miracle at Pentecost was the centerpiece of the museum. The mural by artist Torger Thompson measured 124 feet wide by 20 feet tall. It was unveiled on the half hour several times a day during a sound and light show.
Ena Heller, executive director of the recently opened Museum of Biblical Art in New York, said Tuesday that the destruction of Miracle at Pentecost is a major loss.
"Since it was the collection's most important piece and they had built the collection around it, then the loss is just truly horrible. It hurts that much deeper than if you were a museum with a collection of many paintings by a certain artist and one got destroyed. But this is an exponential loss here," Heller said.
The building was built in 1969, and firefighters were hindered because its ventilation was poor and it lacked a sprinkler system, officials said. The museum has featured traveling exhibits, including fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls and displays of ancient Bibles.
Staff Writer Andrew Marton Contributed to This Report.
Distributed by the Associated Press
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