Newseum is set to re-open this Friday, April 11, 2008, after a six-year construction project.  The original Newseum was located in Rosslyn, Virginia, where it operated from 1997-2002.  In March 2002, the Newseum closed its doors in Rosslyn to relocate to a new $450 million, seven-story museum located at Pennsylvania Avenue and 6th Street NW in Washington, D.C.

The Newseum’s web page offers a preview of what’s available at the new facilities. Its galleries and exhibit halls display how the media covered diverse topics from 9/11 to the fall of the Berlin wall, give visitors a behind-the-scenes look at a television news program, show how the evolution of radio, television, and the internet effected how the news was made, honor journalists slain on the job, exhibit Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs, and display news headlines from around the world. All told, the Newseum has 14 major galleries, as well as 15 theaters for conferences, lectures, and media events, and two broadcast studios. The museum also features a learning center geared towards elementary and high school students, where field trip groups can learn about journalism from veterans in the field. There are also some lesson plans for teachers on the web site to be used in conjunction with a class visit to the Newseum.

Newseum executive director Joe Urschel gives us an interesting guided video tour of the new museum via video blog.

Previously on AHA Today: Historical Moments Captured in the Newseum’s Front Page Archive

This post first appeared on AHA Today.