National Museum of American History To Close

This was news to me...good and and kinda lousy news, really, as this is one of my favorite museums.

The National Museum of American History, which is associated with the wonderful Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC, said that they're going to close their doors for two full years in order to construct a new gallery. They say that the core of the building will undergo massive change and are adding 10-foot-high "artifact walls" on the first and second floors which will display hundreds of items from the museum's vast collections...items that haven't all been on display before. The 750,000-square-foot building will get the addition of a monstrous (but sure to be lovely) atrium with a new skylight and a glass staircase so that visitors who come in from the Mall will be able to see all the way through the building to the entrance on Constitution Avenue.

They will stay open for now only until Labor Day this year, so if you're planning any DC trips, get on this.

Filed under: History, Business, Festivals and Events, North America, United States