National Museum of American History

The National Museum of American History, which explores the social, political, cultural, scientific and military history of the United States, reopens this fall after a two-year renovation of its central core. The building is being spectacularly transformed and will include a central skylight atrium, a grand staircase, a new exhibition hall for the museum's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, unique floor-to-ceiling glass walls for better display of some of the museum's more than 3 million artifacts, and a state-of-the-art gallery for the 195-year-old Star-Spangled Banner.