There is no question Washington, D.C. is one of the foremost educational vacation destinations in the world. And now families have yet another attraction to add to their list of must-see sites in the area.
D.C.’s Newseum is a massive, multi-million dollar complex that celebrates newsgathering and teaches visitors “news is necessary to a functioning democracy.”
The $450 million, 643,000-square-foot translucent structure held its grand opening ceremony today. The Newseum sits on Pennsylvania Avenue a few blocks from the Capitol near the National Mall and is preparing to host more than a million visitors in its first year.
For $20 per person guests are free to roam the Newseum’s seven levels and 14 galleries filled with thousands of years of newsgathering memorabilia. Visitors can also tour the Newseum’s 15 theaters, two television studios (ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos” will begin broadcasting every Sunday from one), and a master control center.
If you have the time (and the inclination) you can read the thousands of newspapers or watch the hundreds of hours of news broadcasts housed in the Newseum. There are also thousands of Pulitzer Prize-winning photos to examine and more than 6,000 news artifacts, ranging from 3,200-year-old cuneiform tablets to the bullet-riddled truck used by Time reporters and photographers during the siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s.
The remains of the broadcast antenna from the World Trade Center also has a place in the Newseum as does a TV news helicopter that hangs in the 90-foot lobby atrium. Katie Couric wannabe’s will feel right at home at one of the eight “Be a TV Reporter” stations. Each station is equipped with a Washington backdrop, a video camera and a teleprompter filled with scripts from actual news broadcasts. Your budding journalist can even take home a copy of their TV news debut.
Expect to spend a good portion of your day taking in all of the Newseum’s exhibits. You can also shop and eat in the complex as well. Wolfgang Puck opened a three-level restaurant featuring an Asian menu in the Newseum. For families with children who prefer hamburgers to sushi the Newseum also has a food court. There’s also a two-level museum store filled with one-of-a-kind media-related products, including framed prints of famous news photos.
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