A day in Dallas between art and history

Dallas has no historic center in the European sense: its identity was built in the twentieth century, defined by oil, railways, and an event that forever marked the city's name—the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963.

The Business District gathers most of what's worth seeing downtown, all within walking distance.

At Dealey Plaza, where the presidential convoy was struck by gunfire, a white X painted on the pavement marks the exact point of the fatal impact, still a destination for informal pilgrimage by those visiting the city.

The Sixth Floor Museum, set up in the former book depository from which the shot was fired, reconstructs with period documents the chronicle of those days and the political climate of early 1960s America.

The Nasher Sculpture Center, in the Arts District, displays works by Rodin, Matisse, and Miró in a garden designed specifically for Texas light, with translucent marble walls that filter sunlight without ever causing glare.

The Reunion Tower, the geodesic sphere dominating the skyline since 1978, offers from above a view that puts into perspective just how much the city has grown horizontally rather than vertically, stretching endlessly toward the Texas plain.

Few American cities carry the weight of a single afternoon of history as much as Dallas bears the weight of November 22, 1963, still visible in the X on Dealey Plaza.

The Nasher and Reunion Tower, however, tell of a city that has continued to build its own identity well beyond that event, not remaining its prisoner.