James Hampton was a quiet bespectacled black janitor who lived in Washington DC. For the last 14 years of his life he had a mission which he called The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations’ Millennium General Assembly. Hampton worked on his masterwork in a rented garage, transforming its drab interior into a heavenly vision, as he prepared for the return of Christ to earth. The Throne is his attempt to create a spiritual environment that could only have been made as the result of a passionate and highly personal religious faith.
Hampton’s full creation consists of 180 components—only a portion of which are on view. The total work suggests a chancel complete with altar, a throne, offertory tables, pulpits, mercy seats, and other obscure objects of Hampton’s own invention. His work also includes plaques, tags, and notebooks bearing a secret writing system which has yet to be, and may never be, deciphered.
After he died, the man who owned the garage showed up to collect rent and found it. Hamton’s throne room found a permanent residence in the Smithsonian.
Hampton’s garage
