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THE VISITOR EXPERIENCE

Entering from Blackstone or North Street, the visitor to the Boston Museum will be immersed in a vibrant ground floor marketplace filled with the sights, sounds and smells of Boston's historic past. This open, entirely permeable space is filled with pushcart vendors selling foods from the many ethnic communities that make up today's diverse Boston region.

Riding the escalators upwards to the building's fifth floor, the visitor sees a whirl of activity in the museum's interactive, themed galleries. At the top-floor Boston Gallery, the museum experience begins with an multi-media presentation (similar to "Where's Boston?") The visitor marvels at the panoramic vistas of the Greenway, the Freedom Trail, and Boston harbor.

Descending to the lower floors, the visitor becomes immersed in themed galleries that weave the history of Boston's four centuries. Six galleries feature media-rich exhibitions tell the story of Boston and the region through introductory gateways, linear timelines and strong story-telling.

In the Innovation gallery:

Watch scientists and engineers experiment, build, and create the next "Big Boston Idea." Discover why we're known as "the Hub." Find out why, from the Mayflower Compact to the mutual fund, America 's most revolutionary ideas were made in Massachusetts.

In the Sports gallery:

Shoot some virtual hoops with Celtics legend Larry Bird, hop on an animated walkway and follow the crowds home from the first-ever World Series, and find out how chilly New England came to claim the hottest sports franchises in the country!

In the Politics gallery:

In Boston we never go to bed angry. We stay up and fight!

Witness the great debates and explosive conflicts that gave birth to citizen democracy, the abolitionist and human rights movements, gay marriage and more. Walk the picket line with Boston cops.and find out how the 1916 police strike propelled Calvin Coolidge to the White House. Gather in the courtroom for the 1854 trial of fugitive slave Anthony Burns, a case that galvanized the abolitionist movement.

In the People gallery:

Discover Boston as a crossroads of cultures and identities. Yankee bluebloods, Lace Curtain Irish, Pilgrims, Puritans, Native peoples, African Americans, Italians, Dominicans and Jews.witness what happens when new groups arrive and old conflicts erupt. Record your own story to share with others. Search our computer data base for family members who came to Boston and made the city their own.

In the Growth gallery:

Look down on the animation of the glacier that formed Massachusetts Bay . Hear the boom of the ice cracking. Watch the swamps of the Back Bay being formed, then filled in.and fast forward to the modern city, the most engineered in the nation. Take a simulated ride over the covered cow paths and mean streets of Beantown. Can you find your way from Logan Airport to Beacon Hill and then out to Hyde Park?

The Boston Museum will also feature a gallery for national touring exhibitions and spaces for community and educational use.