The Statue of Liberty will soon celebrate its 130th anniversary, and with it plans for NYC’s newest museum have been announced.
A new 20,000-square-foot museum is in the works near the statue that would accommodate far more people than the current exhibition space in the statue’s pedestal, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The museum will increase public access to exhibits on the history, construction and legacy of the statue, as well as provide additional shelter during inclement weather, according to an environmental review the National Park Service released last month cited by the Journal.
“We like it. We just can’t fit enough people in it,” John Piltzecker, the park service’s superintendent of the Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island, told the Journal.
If plans are approved for the site on the northwest side of the island, it will take two years to build.
The museum would be privately funded with designer and philanthropist Diane von Furstenberg and her billionaire husband Barry Diller backing the effort. [WSJ] –Christopher Cameron