NEW ORLEANS — The National World War II Museum in New Orleans chose the 79th anniversary of D-Day to announce plans for its final permanent exhibit hall.
The museum said Tuesday that the Liberation Pavilion will open in November. Exhibits in the three-story pavilion will deal with the end of World War II, the Holocaust and the postwar years. The war’s continuing impact on modern life also will be explored.
The Liberation Pavilion will be adjacent to an outdoor gathering space — the 24,000-square-foot Col. Battle Barksdale Parade Ground — that will be formally dedicated in November.
The museum opened in 2000 as the National D-Day Museum — a project spearheaded by University of New Orleans professors and historians Stephen Ambrose and Gordon Mueller. It was soon expanded to encompass all aspects of the Second World War and has become a sprawling downtown landmark and tourist attraction in New Orleans.
“World War II was one of the most significant conflicts in history. Liberation Pavilion will help us tell a more complete story of the American experience in the war and emphasize how its far-reaching impacts continue to affect our lives today,” Michael Bell, executive director of the museum's Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy, said in a news release heralding the planned expansion.
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