Chiseled on the façade of the relocated Newseum (555 Pennsylvania Ave., NW)—opening April 11—are the words of the First Amendment. And the building has an openness implied by the right to a free press: floor-to-ceiling windows, a dramatic great hall, and views of the Capitol, National Gallery of Art, and Washington Monument. It takes at least two hours at a swift pace to walk the 1½ miles of exhibits—ranging from a page of the Gutenberg Bible to state-of-the-art interactive stations. In between are areas devoted to sports, newsreels, radio, television, the Internet, and more.That’s not counting 80 front pages from around the world displayed in cases—culled from nearly 600 newspapers that come to the Newseum daily—or the galleries devoted to 9/11, the Berlin Wall, and journalists who died on the job. It’s not all serious: In an area called Sex and Scandals, you’ll find headlines such as the New York Post’s headless body in topless bar. The Newseum is as much about the present as about the past, and you can expect news to come from within its studios. ABC’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos will be broadcast from there.
Admission is free opening day; after that, it’s $20 for ages 13 to 64, $18 over age 64, $13 ages 7 to 12, under age seven free. Open daily 9 to 5; for tickets, call 888-639-7386 or go to newseum.org.
Read our interview with Charles Overby, head of the Newseum, here.
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