WINCHESTER, VA.- The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) recently opened to the public in Winchester, Virginia. According to Dr. James C. Laidlaw, president of the museum's Board of Directors, it has taken nearly eight years to research, plan, fund, and execute the $20 million project.

The MSV, says Museum Director Jennifer Esler, will tell the story of the beautiful and historic Valley for which it is named. Exhibits in this new museum, she says, will address the Valley's broad sweep of history and provide an interpretive backdrop for the many individual stories told by historic sites throughout the region, including the museum complex's own Glen Burnie Historic House, which played a role in the settlement of the Valley. The MSV is located just outside the historic house's surrounding six acres of formal gardens; the house, gardens, and museum together now form a history museum complex.

The MSV was designed by the internationally recognized architectural firm of Michael Graves & Associates, Princeton, New Jersey. According to architect Graves, his goal was to design a structure that would have its own contemporary identity, yet speak harmoniously with a richly historic context that includes formal gardens, as well as a historic house dating to 1794. To achieve this goal, the architect incorporated the character of traditional local architecture and Valley themes throughout the new structure. The museum's architectural focal point, a dramatic lantern that arises more than four stories above the lobby, also helps connect the interior of the new structure with the historic house and its landscape.

The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley has three levels. The first level contains public spaces, including the lobby, a learning center, tea room, reception hall, and museum store. The third level contains offices and meeting rooms. The exhibitions are located on the second floor, where visitors will discover four main galleries comprised of eleven gallery rooms in all.

The Shenandoah Valley Gallery, the museum's centerpiece gallery, is comprised of six rooms. The large main gallery room presents an overview of Valley history. Over thirty scholars played a role in developing the storyline, which begins with the prehistory of the first Indians to inhabit the Valley and concludes with the oral histories of those who call the region home today. The exhibits in this large central room are complemented by two video presentations in smaller, separate rooms; one provides an introduction to the Valley, while the other explores the impact of the Civil War on the region. Three additional gallery rooms present the museum's new but already impressive collection of decorative arts made in the Valley beginning in the mid-eighteenth century. Ample use of audio, video, and interactive elements in each section of the main gallery room will help bring history alive for visitors. So will the gallery's timber framing, which provides a modern interpretation of a traditional Valley barn.

Moving out of the Shenandoah Valley Gallery, visitors will find the Julian Wood Glass Jr. Gallery. Here one of the Valley's most significant collections of fine and decorative arts is presented. Its namesake was the last descendant of Winchester founder James Wood to live in the Glen Burnie Historic House; Julian Wood Glass Jr. (1910-1992) assembled this collection over much of his entire life, and it includes notable examples of furniture, fine arts, and decorative objects of primarily the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The work of artists such as Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828) and Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) is on display. Nearby, the R. Lee Taylor Miniatures Gallery presents the shadow box rooms and miniature furnished houses collected by R. Lee Taylor (1924-2000) of Winchester; this is another outstanding Valley collection that has been gifted to the MSV. This fascinating collection displays exacting craftsmanship in minute detail, and includes the work of more than seventy miniatures artisans.

Finally, the Changing Exhibitions Gallery will ensure there is always something new to see at the MSV. The gallery's first exhibition, Virginia Landscapes, Watercolors by Pierre Daura, presents twenty-four watercolors executed by artist Pierre Daura (1896-1976) between 1940 and 1970, when he lived in Rockbridge Baths, Virginia. These vibrant works picture locations in the Shenandoah Valley's Rockbridge County, as well as Valley rural scenes and landscapes.