Originally published in the Spring 2022 edition of the Virginia Defender, issue 68, printed April 21. Reproduced here for accessibility and archival purposes. To find other stories in the Spring 2022 issue or to download the full PDF, see this post. For other issues dating back to 2012, see the Full Issues page.

After what it’s calling “a landmark reimagination of the institution,” an “expanded and reinvigorated” Virginia Museum of History & Culture will reopen to the public May 14 and 15 with free admission, live music and family activities.

The museum’s more than $30 million renovation includes a two-story entrance atrium; an immersive orientation theater; approximately 50 percent more exhibition space; a new research library; several community meeting and gathering spaces; a new campus connector between the VMHC and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; an enhanced green space; and a new café and museum store.

More importantly, the museum, long known for celebrating the Confederacy, has been re-examining its responsibility to tell the entire story of Virginia.

According to a museum press release, “Visitors will encounter a dramatically renewed, innovative and welcoming museum experience after the most extensive and transformative renovation in the institution’s nearly 200-year history.”

The museum is located at 428 N. Arthur Ashe Boulevard in Richmond.

For more information, visit VirginiaHistory.org.