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.