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Los Angeles Star Wars George Lucas

George Lucas to open $1bn museum in Los Angeles

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By Haley Velasco, Freelance journalist

January 12, 2017 | 3 min read

George Lucas’ $1bn museum will find its new home in Los Angeles. The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has announced that after years of searching, it will be built in L.A.'s Exposition Park, with an opening date of 2021.

The rendering for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art from architect Ma Yansong's which will make its home in L.A.

The rendering for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art from architect Ma Yansong's which will make its home in L.A. / Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

The museum’s renderings — designed by Chinese architect Ma Yansong — show a long, white form that almost looks like one of Lucas’ own spaceships from Star Wars.

According to the museum’s website, 'this is the first museum of its kind, with an unprecedented collection that features fine art and popular art from illustration to comics, an insider’s perspective on the cinematic creative process and the boundless potential of the digital medium. We are a museum unlike any other.'

The institute will house the Star Wars director’s personal collection and will be dedicated to 'celebrate the power of visual storytelling in a setting focused on narrative painting, illustration, photography, film, animation and digital art'. It will contain everything from paintings by Degas, Homer, Rockwell and Renoir to memorabilia from films like The Wizard of Oz, Dumbo, Raiders of the Lost Ark and, obviously, Star Wars.

Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti has called the museum “the largest civic gift in American history,” according to the AP. The museum, which will be built from scratch, will feature state-of-the-art cinematic theaters, lecture halls, digital classrooms, a 4,200-square foot library, editing classrooms and more amenities.

The museum was originally suggested to be on the Chicago lakefront but after a lawsuit was filed by a nonprofit preservation group to block the construction, the location changed to the West Coast.

Los Angeles Star Wars George Lucas

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