The Shakespeare Exhibition Hall in the New Pavilion will house a permanent exhibition devoted to Shakespeare’s life and works. Visitors will enter through pages of a First Folio into four outer galleries where they will be immersed in a play with universal questions about the human experience.
Shakespeare and His Plays
This exhibition will demonstrate why Shakespeare’s stories have endured for centuries, capturing the imagination on the page and on the stage:
- Who was Shakespeare, and what made him great?
- What kinds of questions about life do we encounter in Shakespeare’s plays?
- How have Shakespeare’s plays been performed around the world and through time?
- How have his plays left their mark on American culture, and how have Americans left their mark on the plays?
First Folios
A First Folio Gallery will anchor the Shakespeare Exhibition Hall and feature the Folger’s signature collection of all the First Folios of Henry and Emily Folger.
Early Modern World
The exhibition will also look at the early modern world—particularly its changes in government, religion, language, science, and art—and explore how the upheavals happening all around Shakespeare set the foundations for our society today.
