National Constitution Center

Congress created the National Constitution Center through the Constitution Heritage Act of 1988. Ground was broken on 17 September 2000, exactly 213 years after the Constitution was signed, at 525 Arch Street within Independence National Historical Park, and the museum welcomed its first visitors on 4 July 2003.

Both the architects, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, and the exhibit designers, Ralph Appelbaum Associates, each based in New York, received the commission on 14 September 1998. Henry N. Cobb conceived the building together with his partner Ian Bader; Ralph Appelbaum shaped the exhibits. Kise Straw & Kolodner, a Philadelphia office, served as associate architect.

The building breaks with the red brick of most of its neighbours. Its facade is Indiana limestone in a Select Buff shade, interrupted by light gray Chelmsford granite bands 8 inches high; they scale the building down and stress its horizontal lines.

Cobb calls the two-storey glass entrance the front porch. In his words, the building could not be too official, as it is not a government building, and could not be very monumental either, as it is neither a museum nor a shrine; it needed a more relaxed air.

The open porch gives views into the museum and, from inside, out to the city. At the end of the visitor route, a ceremonial hall lit from above faces Independence Hall on the far side of the Mall.

The center is a private nonprofit museum standing on federal land without being a federal body. It introduces the United States Constitution through interactive exhibits, including Signers' Hall, whose 42 life-size bronze figures represent the Founding Fathers who were present at the signing on 17 September 1787.

The museum stands at 525 Arch Street, on Independence Mall. It opens Wednesday to Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Entry is by ticket, sold online and on site.