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  Company K-1 Reunion in Pennsylvania…Part 3

Thursday, 19 May

Bus departs for center city Philadelphia. Tour of Constitution Center.   

Optional tours of Visitors' Center, Liberty Bell Pavilion, and Independence Hall. (Edna Mae and I visited the nearby National Museum of American Jewish History, instead) 

Lunch at City Tavern (Edna Mae and I had a 'kosher' lunch at the Jewish History Museum.) 

Other Optional Tours: Kosciuszko House, Polish American Cultural Center & Museum Exhibit Hall,

Optional dinner on your own.

Philadelphia 

Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania and the fifth-most-populous city in the United States.

In 2008, the population of the city proper was estimated to be more than 1.54 million, while the Greater Philadelphia metropolitan area's population of 5.8 million made it the country's fifth largest. The city, which lies about 80 miles (130 km) southwest of New York City, is the nation's fourth-largest urban area by population and its fourth-largest consumer media market, as ranked by the Nielsen Media Research.

It is the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. Popular nicknames for Philadelphia include Philly and The City of Brotherly Love, from the literal meaning of the city's name in Greek (Greek: Φιλαδέλφεια ([pʰilaˈdelpʰeːa], Modern Greek: [filaˈðelfia]) "brotherly love", compounded from philos (φίλος) "love", and adelphos (ἀδελφός) "brother").

A commercial, educational, and cultural center, Philadelphia was once the second-largest city in the British Empire (after London), and the social and geographical center of the original 13 American colonies. It was a centerpiece of early American history, host to many of the ideas and actions that gave birth to the American Revolution and independence. It was the most populous city of the young United States, although by the first census in 1790, New York City had overtaken it. Philadelphia served as one of the nation's many capitals during the Revolutionary War and after. After the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, the city served as the temporary national capital from 1790 to 1800 while Washington, D.C., was under construction.

See also: 

Video: Welcome to Philadelphia (with a series of video tours of the historic city) 

               http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_Hc3u9CygI&feature=related

              Independence Hall:  http://www.nps.gov/inde/historyculture/index.htm

For more information on Philadelphia 

              http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia

To visit the official Philadelphia Visitors Site

             http://www.visitphilly.com/ 

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National Constitution Center

The National Constitution Center is an organization that seeks to expand awareness and understanding of the United States Constitution and operates a museum to advance those purposes.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the museum was held on September 17, 2000–213 years after the original Constitution was signed. On July 4, 2003, it was opened and the National Constitution Center joined other notable sites and iconic exhibits in what has been called "America's most historical square mile" because of the proximity of historical landmarks such as Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. Then-Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, officiating at the opening ceremonies, said, "It will contribute each and every day to the reinforcement of the basic principles that bind us together as a nation and a people."

Exhibits

The institute's theater presentation is Freedom Rising which explains the history of the U.S. Constitution, and how the definition of "We the People" has expanded over time.

The main exhibit hall presents a chronology of constitutional history featuring artifacts and original documents, interactive exhibits based on the preamble to the Constitution, and "talk backs" and ways to discuss the Constitution.

Other exhibits are dedicated to the right to vote and divisive issues such as intelligent design or the death penalty.

"Signers' Hall" features life-sized, cast-bronze sculptures of the 39 signers of the Constitution and the three dissenters.

See also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Constitution_Center

http://constitutioncenter.org/Files/funfacts.pdf

http://www.ushistory.org/tour/constitution-center.htm

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NOTE:  Edna Mae and I visited the nearby National Museum of American Jewish History as our choice among the options offered…

National Museum of American Jewish History

The National Museum of American Jewish History (NMAJH) is a Smithsonian- affiliated museum in Center City Philadelphia, located on Independence Mall within the Independence National Historical Park.

Building

With its founding in 1976 the 15,000-square-foot museum shared a building with the Congregation Mikveh Israel.

In 2005, it was announced that the museum would be moved to a new building to be built at Fifth Street and Market Street on the Independence Mall. The site was originally owned by CBS' KYW radio and KYW-TV. The project broke ground on September 30, 2007. The 100,000-square-foot glass and terra-cotta building was designed by James Polshek and includes an atrium, a 25,000 square feet area for exhibits, a Center for Jewish Education, and a theater. The project, including endowment, cost $150 million. The opening ceremony was held November 14, 2010 and was attended by over 1,000 people including Vice President Joe Biden, Mayor Michael Nutter, Governor Ed Rendell, and Rabbi Irving Greenberg. The building opened to the public November 26, 2010.

Exhibitions

Exhibits use pieces from the museum's collection which includes over 20,000 objects and ranges from the Colonial period to the present day. Exhibits focus on Jews in America. Professor Jonathan Sarna of Brandeis University led the development of the core exhibit for the museum.                                     

Inside, the museum centers on an atrium crisscrossed by bridges and stairs with glass treads, which extend from the top of the museum’s five stories down to a lower level that houses an educational center and theater. The open design, in which people are visible to each other across different levels, is a Polshek signature. “People love watching other people use spaces, as I know from doing Carnegie Hall,” James Polshek said.

The design team liked the idea of keeping an “eternal light” burning outside the museum, in a nod to synagogue tradition. But the money and energy that would be required to keep a ten-foot-tall flame burning were prohibitive. So Polshek sought an alternate from Ben Rubin, a media artist whose work he knew and admired from various famous commissions, including, most recently, the lobby of the New York Times building.

Rubin often incorporates text into his artworks, and was inspired by the design of the Talmud, the tome of Jewish law. “But this is a tricky place, politically, to introduce literal text because it’s so public,” Rubin said. So he pared down the blocks of text on each of the Talmud’s roughly thousand pages into blank white-and-gray rectangles. The abstracted pages cycle through a series of seven LED screens on an upper corner of the museum, appearing in succession on each screen briefly before moving to the next. The effect is a flickering cloud of light. Like the rest of the museum, it aims to be simple in appearance and heavy with meaning.

See also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_American_Jewish_History

http://archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=4832 

http://www.yelp.com/biz/national-museum-of-american-jewish-history-philadelphia-2

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Note: Another nearby option that we visited is both historic and has ties to the Kosciuszko Monument and Garden @ West Point

The Kosciuszko House

The house is located on the corner of 3rd and Pine Streets
in Philadelphia, PA. 

Cheering crowds and booming cannon salutes greeted General Thaddeus Kosciuszko on his arrival to Philadelphia in August, 1797. Exiled from his beloved Poland, his only wish was to return to his "second country." Though his many American friends urged him to make a new life and home in the United States, Kosciuszko stayed here less than a year. Turbulent events would draw the General back to Europe in May, 1798.

Instructed to find "a dwelling as small, as remote, and as cheap" as possible, Kosciuszko's secretary, Julian Niemcewicz, chose Mrs. Ann Relf's boarding house in Society Hill (on the corner of 3rd and Pine Streets).

Still suffering from battle wounds received during the Polish Insurrection, Kosciuszko rarely left his bedchamber. He amused himself through reading, hobbies, and entertaining visitors. Persons of all backgrounds were welcomed here by Kosciuszko. For some visitors, exciting discoveries in science, discussions about social reforms, and the fierce American political scene were the topics of the day. Others stopped by to share a relaxing game of chess or whist. Young ladies enjoyed having their portraits painted by the General.

For five months this room was Kosciuszko's home. Recreated from an inventory found in Thomas Jefferson's personal papers, the room reflects Kosciuszko's political and personal interests, as well as his vagabond lifestyle. The objects in the room are period pieces similar to those owned by Kosciuszko.

For many years the house stood in derelict condition until its significance was recognized by Edward Pinkowski, Philadelphia's preeminent Polish-American historian. Supported by Polish-American organizations and individuals who believed in keeping the General's memory alive, he presented his information before the United States Congress and the house became a site administered by the National Park Service. After renovation, it opened in 1976 as a museum devoted to Kosciuszko.

http://www.poles.org/k_house.html

http://www.ushistory.org/tour/kosciuszko.htm

http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-27F

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadeusz_Ko%C5%9Bciuszko

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