Sacred ground…treasured artifacts…a revered Civil War battlefield
The new Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center is now open to the public. Funded through donations coordinated by the Gettysburg Foundation, the new facility had its grand opening on September 26, 2008. The center features:
- 139,000-square-foot facility designed to blend into the rural Pennsylvania countryside
- Located adjacent to the battlefield, but carefully sited so it is not visible from the park’s major interpretive points
- Designed to evoke a sense of events in 1863 while providing a 21st-century museum experience with a rotunda gallery, main museum gallery and theater experience
- Cyclorama Gallery displaying the historic and recently conserved Gettysburg Cyclorama painting
- Displays of the park’s priceless collection designed to immerse visitors in the stories of the Civil War era and the Battle of Gettysburg
- Interactive stations throughout the museum, a computer resource center, book and museum store, educational facilities for teacher workshops, classroom use and distance learning programs.
- “Refreshment Saloon” offering Civil War-era foods and recipes
The new Museum and Visitor Center at Gettysburg National Military Park offers visitors a 21st-century museum experience that provides a Civil War experience unlike any other.
In honor of Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday on February 12, 2009, the David Wills House in downtown Gettysburg will celebrate its Grand Opening, offering visitors a world-class museum experience that tells the story of Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address.
