PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A giant First Amendment marble tablet is coming to Philadelphia after being removed from the facade of a former Washington, D.C. museum.
The 45 words of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution are engraved in the 50-ton marble tablet, which has been displayed on the facade of the Newseum, a 4-story-high nonprofit museum in Washington, D.C. dedicated to freedoms of the First Amendment.
It will be disassembled over the next couple of weeks, and then it will make its way to Philadelphia in pieces that will be installed inside the tablet's new home at the National Constitution Center. it’s President and CEO is Jeffrey Rosen.
"The Newseum was sold a few years ago to Johns Hopkins University. The Freedom Forum, which operated the museum wanted to make sure that the First Amendment had a really meaningful home," said NCC President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen.
"When they found out that the Constitution Center had a tremendously large wall space available and that we really excited to receive the tablet to inspire visitors, they agreed to donate it."
The tablet will be located inside on a wall on the second floor in a space that overlooks Independence Hall, the very place of course where the original Constitution was drafted.
"It's so meaningful to bring the text of the First Amendment to Philadelphia," said Rosen, "as a permanent monument to the five freedoms of speech, press, religion, assembly, and petition."
The museum hopes to have a ceremony in the fall.