An architect's rendering of the renovated Great Hall at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture. The museum reopens with a party May 14-15. (Image courtesy Virginia Museum of History & Culture)
Jamie Bosket, president and CEO of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture, pauses on the balcony overlooking the lofty, bright and recently renovated Commonwealth Hall. Behind him, a curved 45-foot screen displays a video “moving mural” of state scenes choreographed to evocative music. On May 14-15, the public, amid music and celebration, will experience the results of the VMHC’s massive $30 million makeover, which took 18 months to complete.
“There wasn’t a moment where we said, ‘Gosh, we want to renovate this whole place,’ ” Bosket explains. “It started with a nugget of an idea.” When clambering onto the museum's roof with a maintenance team, he observed varied heights of the several buildings. “After six generations and 110 years, the building had grown into a bit of a Frankenstein,” Bosket says. He contacted Glavé & Holmes, the architectural firm with long connections to the VMHC, and its partner Steven Blashfield. “I asked him, ‘Isn’t there any way I can lift that roof up?’ ” indicating the entrance hall. “And Steven laughed,” as does Bosket with the memory. “But then, here we are,” Bosket says, gesturing toward the atrium-style raised roof and its bright sweep of natural light.
Formerly the Virginia Historical Society, which possessed a sense of hushed solitude, this renewed VMHC is big and bright.
The museum’s dynamic library now offers outdoor views and breakout rooms where conversations can take place, and a disused rooftop has been turned into a terrace providing a tree-filled Museum District view. Here, too, nonprofits may make their home, such as the John Marshall Center, which is now headquartered at the VMHC.
The rearrangement of the interior yielded a nearly 60% increase in exhibition space, allowing for more rotating presentations. The museum’s permanent introductory exhibit, “The Story of Virginia,” received a dynamic redesign, and a new section, “Our Commonwealth,” brings visitors into the state’s five distinct geographic and cultural sections through sight and sound.
Then there’s a plush 60-seat theater with a curving 36-foot screen for the 17-minute film “Imagine Virginia.” “It’s got a powerhouse sound system,” Bosket says, adding wryly, “My office is right above it, so I’m a little anxious about the cannons roaring.”
Beyond the rare books and objects, there’s a cafe, offering premade sandwiches, salads and wraps, plus the energy that museumgoers run on — coffee — as well as local beer. Outdoor seating is near a circulating water feature.
The intention is for visitors to feel welcomed, uplifted and excited when they enter Commonwealth Hall. You’ll see a circa 1860 coach, owned by Rockbridge County Judge Alexander McNutt Glasgow. Nearby sits the Richmond-made 1918 Kline Kar, owned by funeral director Alfred D. Price Sr. After an 18-month restoration, the Kline returns to a special parking place. Here, too, is a merry little airplane from a Buckroe Beach amusement park ride.
At the other end, the Thalhimer department store clock is used as an interpretive tool for describing the experience of the “Richmond 34,” Black students from Virginia Union University who sought service at the department store’s whites-only lunch counter.
When entering the VMHC, you'll see the “Faces of Virginia” installation, with 71 portraits curated to allow guests to see someone who looks like them or who shares a life journey that resonates with them.
“Museums are most successful when people can see themselves in the story,” Bosket says. “One of the portraits is purposefully left out, and there’s a mirror, so you can see yourself among all these faces.”
