Spring 2025: Ongoing upgrades and construction

12/03/2024
Collage of four vintage sepia or black-and-white photographs. Image 1: Rows of white women sitting at tables in a factory with bullets and other munitions piled between them. Image 2: A group of Black U.S. soldiers posed for a portrait in uniform. Image 3: portrait photograph of a gaunt-looking white man with dark hair resting his face on his hand. Image 4: Several Indian horse riders wearing turbans and carrying lances.

On this page:

“Encounters” installation

Liberty Memorial Tower maintenance

Kemper Horizon Theater upgrade

Previous renovation phases

 

The Museum and Memorial began collecting in 1920 shortly after the Armistice on Nov. 11, 1918. Today, it is the most comprehensive collection of WWI artifacts in the world and continues to grow as objects representing nations from across the globe are added almost weekly.

Since 2023, the Museum and Memorial has been carrying out a multi-year upgrade plan, the most expansive changes to the buildings and grounds since opening in 2006. These changes will not only see upgrades in technology to tell new and interesting narratives from WWI, they will create a richer and more immersive visitor experience. Renovations will continue through 2025.

The Museum and Memorial will remain open during all phases of construction and anticipate that the guest impact will be minimal.

 

 

“Encounters”

Opening May 2025

 

“Encounters” is located in the West Gallery, adjacent to the Epilogue. Through cutting-edge visual storytelling, visitors will encounter 16 individuals and their intimate first-person accounts crafted from diaries, letters and photos, including:

  • Allied and Central Power combat soldiers living through the hell of the Western Front and patrolling the seas in submarines.
  • British colonial Indian soldiers contemplating their own deaths and rebelling against the futility of war.
  • Women working in munitions factories to support the war effort.
  • Dissenters arrested and tried for protesting involvement in the war.

 

Screenshot of a white male actor in a WWI uniform composited onto a CGI background of a bombed-out cathedral

Modern photo of a white female actor in a grey WWI-era skirt and jacket standing in a bluescreened studio being filmed by large elaborate cameras

 

Modern photo of a brown-skinned, bearded male actor in a WWI military uniform and turban, standing in a bluescreened studio while a wardrobe department person adjusts his costume

Screenshot of a white female actor in a WWI-era dress and red hat composited onto a CGI background of a European garden

 

Modern photo of a white male actor in WWI military uniform sitting on a pile of sandbags in a bluescreened studio, surrounded by lights and reflector panels

Modern photo of a computer monitor showing a white male actor in a WWI military uniform composited onto a CGI background of the inside of a submarine

 

The media displays will feature 1.25 mm LED technology from Nanolumens and is the first installation of its kind in a museum in the U.S.

The exhibit is designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates (New York City) with media design and production by Dot Crew (United Kingdom). RAA is the Museum’s original design firm from 2004, and Dot Crew has created media experiences for the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum, Norwegian Petroleum Museum, and projects for all the UK major broadcasters.

 

 

Liberty Memorial Tower closed until after Memorial Day weekend

 

Due to scheduled cleaning and maintenance of the nearly 100-year-old Liberty Memorial Tower, it has been closed to the public January 2025 through June 2025.

All other areas of the Museum and Memorial remain open.

 

 

Kemper Horizon Theater has been upgraded

 

Modern photograph of life-size WWI soldier mannequins trudging across a muddy battlescape, lit starkly by orange and white spotlights

 

Starting in January 2025, the special effects lighting and projector systems in Kemper Horizon Theater underwent important and exciting upgrades. Halogen bulbs were exchanged for LEDs, increasing efficiency and cost savings. Updated video projectors with motion capabilities replaced older models, sharpening and refreshing the original presentation.

These changes, along with corresponding electrical work, were completed on Feb. 18.

Learn more

 

 

Thank you for your patience and excitement as these improvements are made – the upgrades are a vital piece in ensuring that stories of the Great War and its enduring impact will be shared for generations to come.

 

Previous renovation phases:

Lower Level – Open Storage and Bergman Family Gallery

Main Gallery – Prologue, Interactive Tables, America Mobilizes, Animals of WWI

Main Gallery – Epilogue, Into the Trenches

Main Gallery – Tank, Battlescape, Casualties