Until a couple of weeks ago, it was the most widely viewed single piece of art in the state of Hawaii, gazed upon by as many as 5,000 people a day, well more than a million people a year. It is large and colorful, stirs emotions in those who see it, is in great shape and was painted by John Charles Roach, one of the foremost muralists in the nation.

Want it?

The painting is the mural of the USS Arizona that graced the back wall of the USS Arizona Visitors Center. It was commissioned by the ancestor organization of the Arizona Memorial Museum Association, and the canvas was stretched across the wall onto masonite backing in 1979. Roach was chosen for his talent in combat art and architectural landscapes, and his image of the mighty battleship in peacetime gray paint, hurtling through an azure sea braced with whitecaps, simmered the imaginations of millions of visitors, many of whom posed for pictures next to it.

But the Visitors Center has been demolished, and the painting removed from the wall, rolled up and stored. It's looking for a home. The National Park Service, which has custody of the painting, is looking for a place that will accept it as a donation. It will even help pay for the shipping and installation.

You'd better have a pretty big wall. The painting is 15 1/2 feet tall and 55 feet long, and doesn't include a frame. All those people who took snapshots of it never captured more than a small portion.

“;The way the visitor center was designed, you just couldn't back up far enough to get a picture of it,”; recalls John Martini, head ranger when the center opened in 1979. “;And if you did, there was stuff in the way. I remember a photographer trying to make a good copy image, using lights from the sides and black plastic to shield the glare, and stepladders to mount the camera on, and he finally just gave up in frustration.”;

There was a complete image at one time, because postcards were once available of the painting until Roach put a stop to it. The center designers had apparently neglected to get reproduction rights.

Barring spreading the painting on the lawn and photographing it from outer space, these days it could be duplicated with cameras with architectural anti-keystoning lenses and PhotoShop to stitch it all together. The priority, however, was to get it off the wall in one piece.

“;It's now rolled up like a carpet in a 2-by-2-by-16-foot box,”; explained USS Arizona Memorial curator Scott Pawlowski. “;It's painted on No. 10 canvas. It was removed and stabilized by Evergreen Painting Studios of New York, who do this sort of work all over the country. And they say there are rolled-up historic murals all over the country looking for homes as well, as the buildings they're in are taken down.”;

Pulling the canvas off the wood backing was problematic, said Pawlowski. The gesso substrate crumbled into powder, and the paints needed to be stabilized with lacquers and a methyl-cellulose adhesive. But first, the entire painting had to be carefully cleaned of more than a quarter-century of airborne grime and then coated with a flexible varnish.

“;It never looked so good—beautiful and shiny and clean,”; said Pawlowski. “;And then, right away, it came down.”;

The cost for planning, removal and stabilization was approximately $42,000. The usual list of places that might have taken it have demurred, including the Naval Historical Center in Washington, D.C., National Park Service HQ in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., and the Admiral Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg, Texas.

“;We're making a new list of places that might be a good, appropriate home and will protect it,”; said Pawlowski.

If you have any suggestions, Pawlowski is at (303) 653-1461. And no, your rec room isn't appropriate.