The North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh unveiled plans Aug. 27, 2025, for a sleek, modernized new home to show off the state's treasures and artifacts — what it bills as an updated approach for a tech-savvy audience.

Slated to open in the fall of 2028, the rebuilt museum will add 40,000 sq. ft. of gallery space without changing the building's footprint and bring the total sq. ft. to 200,000 for the more than 150,000 items in its collection.

Long considered boxy and closed-off inside, the renovations feature an 8,000-sq.-ft. atrium encased in glass, allowing for gatherings of up to 1,000 people inside.

But along with its open-air design, the history museum pledges to embrace a more hands-on, interactive experience aided by podcasts, YouTube content and rotating exhibits.

"We're the state's storytellers," C.J. Roberts, director of the Division of State History Museums, told the Raleigh News & Observer. "We're the state's treasure keepers. Through our building, we are sort of the community gathering space. It is a far-friendlier, more inviting entrance."

An affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, the museum also is a division of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Upgrades will include a relocated entrance on the northside of Bicentennial Plaza for improved accessibility, new climate control systems to protect the museum's 150,000-plus artifacts and critical infrastructure improvements such as leak repairs and a new freight elevator.

Additional classrooms, a new restaurant, community spaces and offices are also part of the expansion, according to the museum.

"These investments will preserve North Carolina's history and provide a safe, modern facility for generations to come and ensure the museum can better serve our statewide community," the museum said in a news release on its website.

The facility is on track to reopen to the public in 2028.

"This project is about honoring the trust North Carolinians place in us to care for their history," said Roberts. "We're building a space worthy of the stories, artifacts and traditions that define our state — so they can be preserved and shared for generations to come."

A Bigger, Better Museum On the Way

The N.C. Museum of History dates to 1994 at its location in downtown Raleigh. The museum closed in October 2024 after announcing its plans to renovate the building over two to three years. Originally called the "Hall of History," the facility has occupied its space on East Edenton Street since it first opened, just across from the state Capitol Building.

It draws nearly 500,000 visitors a year, especially schoolchildren on field trips.

The museum's $225 million facelift is being paid for, in part, with $180 million from the state's budget, and the rest through private donations raised by the N.C. Museum of History Foundation.

North Carolina Museum of History officials wanted a project that aims to rethink design and add classroom space while also updating needed infrastructure changes in the 30-year-old building, including leak repairs and a new freight elevator.

Since its closing 11 months ago, the bulk of the work has involved moving the artifacts into nearby specialized storage spaces, a task that required transporting items as small as a shard of pottery and as large as Richard Petty's stock car.

The added space inside comes partly through the new atrium but also by moving heating and air-conditioning units up to the roof. This allows the museum to display a larger share of its overall collection. Most museums, Roberts told the Raleigh newspaper, show only about 5 percent of what they hold.

And while the museum's exterior will keep its general shape, it will include more wood detailing and much more glass.

"In many ways the facade will be similar," Roberts said, "but different."