The lecture will briefly survey historical archetypal forms engendered in central areas of belief such as church, state, and corporation. I will develop the idea that it is possible, through semiotics, to find strong symbolic elements in the architecture - and also in the graphic design - which function as visual tropes (recurring thematic devices). After briefly isolating some of these forms and discussing how they come to act as symbols of an often- unstated referent, I will turn to the analysis of a particular institution - the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky.

The Creation Museum opened in spring of 2007 with fanfare that was welcomed in fundamentalist Christian denominations, while ridiculed in much of the general press. The premise of the museum is that the creation story in Genesis is completely and literally factual. The universe was created in six days, dinosaurs and humans were contemporaries, Noah built an ark, etc. Yet, the organization behind the museum, Answers In Genesis, believes science is not contradicted by the biblical record. As a result, the Creation Museum provides an unusual opportunity to see two of the primary belief centers - science and religion - fused. How does the building, the exhibits, and the graphic design deliver their message? How does a message that is clearly marginalized in the society attempt to overcome the marginality to become the dominant reading? What can the Creation Museum teach us about the workings of propoganda, information, belief, and power? Can we come away from a visit to the Creation Museum and see subtle ways we are influenced to believe in mainstream belief structures?