Light can be aesthetically as well as physically damaging

Elisabeth Povoledo, writing in the March 28, 2017 issue of The New York Times (“Streetlight Fight Breaks Out in Rome: Golden Glow vs. Harsh White LED”) notes that the city of Rome is replacing its yellow sodium streetlights with cheaper and more environmentally friendly white LED lights and that residents are complaining that the new bulbs have changed the atmosphere of the city. Among other things, the LED lights throw harsh shadows on building reliefs and sculptures set into niches in walls. These complaints are a reminder that how architecture or art is lit affects its appearance –sometimes in ways that are physically damaging, but at other times in ways that are aesthetically damaging.