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Arizona Memorial Museum and Visitor Center

Preserving the Memories

Simply stated, the original Museum and Visitor Center must be replaced.

Built in 1980, the USS Arizona Memorial Museum and Visitor Center has played an increasingly important role as the support facility to the USS Arizona Memorial and as a significant part of the visitor experience. The facility consists of an open-air museum and adjoining book store, twin motion-picture theaters for visitor orientation, curatorial and work spaces for National Park Service and Museum Association staff, and visitor food and rest areas. A primary component of the visitor center is the Remembrance Circle, a waterfront memorial to the service men, women and civilians not aboard the USS Arizona who were killed in the Pearl Harbor attack.

Over the years, the facility has experienced tremendous usage from larger-than-expected visitation.

This overwhelming success, unfortunately, has led to visitor overcrowding and insufficient exhibit space. Additionally, the facility suffers from severe deterioration.

We launched this capital improvement project to raise funds to tell the whole story of that fateful day, preserve the precious memories and artifacts of Pearl Harbor, as well as to expand the Museum and Visitor Center's capabilities.

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Future Plans

Sixty years ago, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor threw the United States of American into World War Two. The surprise attack changed the course of history, but it also changed the lives of every individual in the U.S. Grandparents still tell their children, grand children, and even great grand children stories of what it was like to live in wartime, fight on foreign shores, and lose friends and family members in the fight for freedom.

Two generations after the start of WWII, these stories are being lost. As the "greatest generation" passes away, so too do their stories, their memories, and their experiences. The future of the USS Arizona Memorial is to be sure that these memories are never forgotten. With the expansion of the Museum and Visitor Center, the USS Arizona Memorial will be able to "tell the rest of the story." What was life like in Hawaii after the attack? What happened to the civilians who were living in Hawaii? What happened on other ships? The USS Oklahoma? The USS Utah? The USS Nevada? These and other ships have stories that need to be told, and the future of the USS Arizona Memorial is to tell these stories better than ever before. The future of the USS Arizona Memorial is to be sure that America remembers and honors those who fought and gave their lives in Hawaii and the Pacific to protect our freedom.

THE SITE PLAN

The Arizona Memorial Museum Association and the National Park Service have been assessing the needs of the Memorial Museum and Visitor Center and exploring ways to creatively solve the problems, while fulfilling the vision of the new facility. Working closely with The Portico Group, an architectural firm based in Seattle, Washington, several facility site-plan concepts were created and presented.

The site plan below is one alternative that is creative and effective—both in terms of cost and in resolving all of the Museum’s structural and visitation issues. The total area of the facility will be approximately 24,000 square feet. The plan is not yet completely final, but it provides us with a blueprint upon which to build our ideas. The new state-of-the-art museum will double the current exhibit capacity and showcase Pearl Harbor survivors’ memorabilia and other artifacts. Here, thousands of visitors each day will comfortably browse new exhibits about Pearl Harbor and the early Pacific War. The museum will use the latest exhibit technology to bring the Pearl Harbor attack and surrounding events to life.