The Virginia Museum of History and Culture will reopen in May after the most extensive and transformative renovation in the nearly 200-year history of the museum.
The museum, located at the corner of Kensington Avenue and N. Arthur Ashe Boulevard in Richmond’s Museum District, is owned and operated by the Virginia Historical Society—a private, non-profit organization.
The new VMHC will offer a dramatically expanded, welcoming and innovative museum experience for all visitors to engage with a shared past and the stories that connect Virginians and Americans.
Nearly two-thirds of the VMHC’s 250,000-square-foot building has been renovated, and additions have been built upwards, while the ground footprint has remained the same. This $30+ million transformation allows for a grand two-story entrance atrium; an immersive orientation theater; some 50 percent more exhibition space to accommodate a mix of long-term and changing exhibitions; an entirely 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, among other amenities.
“We look forward to sharing the remarkable product of this most transformative effort — celebrating the reimagination of your Virginia Museum of History and Culture this spring,” said VMHC President and CEO Jamie Bosket. “The VMHC is for everyone, and its array of new experiences, new exhibitions and new spaces were all thoughtfully conceived and produced to offer new and engaging ways to discover the past—to welcome all and reflect all Virginians.”
In conjunction with its grand reopening, VMHC will debut multiple new exhibitions and galleries that present new approaches to understanding the distant and not-so-distant past.
In early 2022, the museum will release details of its grand reopening plans, which will include a series of preview events in early May, followed by a full public opening celebration with live music, free admission and family activities the weekend of May 14 and 15, 2022.