Newest pavilion set to open at WWII museum

October 11 2019 | Latest News

Newest pavilion set to open at WWII museum

 

The National World War II Museum is preparing to open its newest pavilion, the “Hall of Democracy,” and start work on another one.

 

The “Hall of Democracy” is set to open Oct. 17, the same date as a groundbreaking ceremony for the Liberation Pavilion. They are part of the museum’s $370 million expansion in downtown New Orleans.

The nearly 31,000-square-foot Hall of Democracy has exhibition and retail space on the ground floor, classrooms on the second floor and a library and office space on the third floor. The city granted the museum permission in 2016 to add the third level.

A news release said the space allows the museum to share its collections, oral histories, research and expertise. The pavilion features the Institute for the Study of War and Democracy, the WWII Media and Education Center, a research library, education classrooms, a new special exhibits gallery, a fully equipped auditorium, and a Museum Store outlet.

Its special exhibition, Operation Finale, reveals the secret history behind the capture, extradition and trial of one of the world’s most notorious escaped war criminals, Adolf Eichmann, the news release said.

Meanwhile construction on the Liberation Pavilion is set to begin. It will honor the moment of postwar liberation and its aftermath, and The Arsenal of Democracy: The Herman and George Brown Salute to the Home Front, a new exhibit inside Louisiana Memorial Pavilion dedicated to telling the story of America’s journey to war.