Newseum - District of Columbia - In 2007 A Museum on History and Current News Media Opened as One of the Newest Washington Museums

The Newseum is located in downtown Washington D.C. on Pennsylvania Avenue near 6th Street, NW. The museum occupies 250,000 square feet neighboring the museums of the Smithsonian on the National Mall.

The outside fazade includes a huge glass wall allowing a glimpse in from the street as well as a 74-foot tall marble engraving of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It is the First Amendment that prohibits the Federal Government from infringing on the right to freedom of speech and a free press among other provisions.

While the Newseum is legally established as a not for Profit organization it was initiated with the funding of the largest corporate news organization owners and individual news Publishing executives on the planet Earth. The total cost of building this museum, which opened in 2007, was 450 million dollars.

Most of the exhibits on the 7 levels of the building are named for and have content provided by such media companies as Time Warner, NewsCorp, NBC (General Electric), ABC (Disney), CBS (Viacom), and Hearst Corporation.

15 different theaters and 14 major galleries are on display in the museum as well as 12 other exhibits. Many of the exhibits are interactive while there are also historical collections related to the history of news and expression on the Earth.

Among the artifacts at the Newseum are 3 pieces from the Berlin Wall that measure 12 ft tall by 4 ft wide. The oldest museum piece on display is a 3,262 year old Cuneiform brick from Sumeria. (Cuneiform was the ancient Sumerian engraving of wedge like characters that is believed to be the oldest form of expression through written language.).

The second oldest artifact is a 2,756 year old ancient Egyptian statue of Thoth, an Egyptian God attributed with transforming Ra's will into speech. Thoth has been linked to writing as well in some interpretations of Egyptian mythology.

The Newseum is open from 9 AM to 5 PM daily, closing only on New Years, Thanksgiving and Christmas Days.

A food court and restaurant are on the premises, both under the supervision of award winning chef Wolfgang Puck.

Several spaces are available at the facility for private event rentals for groups of distinct sizes with catering available from Chef Puck's in house restaurant, located at Ground Level.

The gift shop entrance is on the first Floor of the Museum.

The nearest Metro stations can be found at Judiciary Square Station where the Red line stops and at Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter Station on the Green and Yellow lines.

There is no on site parking at this Museum. Although private parking garages are available travel by the Metro is highly recommended due to the frequent traffic congestion and lack of public parking available in the downtown area of this busy city.

Admission is free for Children 6 years and under. Various membership packages are available as well as one time ticket purchasing on-line and at the admission kiosk at the museum.