Museum of the American Revolution’s plaza to open September 15

The Museum of the American Revolution is still very much a construction site, but its front public plaza is just a weeks away from its grand opening.

On September 15 at 9:45 a.m., the museum will be dedicated and its plaza will celebrate its grand opening, reports the Philadelphia Business Journal. It will be open before, during, and after museum hours.

Designed by local landscape architecture firm OLIN, the plaza will feature native Pennsylvania bluestone and brick that was salvaged from the Visitors Center that once stood at the 3rd and Chestnut site. There will also be some nods to the country’s past: One of the Princeton elm trees on the site has been enriched with soil from American Revolutionary sites, and a limestone wall will feature words from the Declaration of Independence.

The actual museum, designed by Robert A.M. Stern, is set to open on April 19, 2017, coinciding with the start date of the American Revolutionary War. In addition to a number of George Washington’s belongings, the museum will feature numerous American Revolution-era artifacts that were uncovered during an archeological dig at the construction site.

• 82K artifacts unearthed at Museum of the American Revolution site [Curbed Philly]