An Official Museum Dedicated to the U.S. Olympics Is Opening in Colorado Next Week

The United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum will open to the public on July 30.

The 60,000-square-foot museum will open in downtown Colorado Springs as “one of the most accessible and interactive museums in the world,” according to a press release. It is the first Olympic museum in the United States.

The building is organized in a sequenced narrative arc that allows visitors to “journey” alongside athletes as they go from training to competition to the medal ceremony. It can be a customizable experience with an embedded chip in each visitor’s ticket that will prompt specific information about their favorite sport or athlete to show up on screens at different exhibits.

The rooms will also contain information about the history of both the Summer and Winter Games and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee Hall of Fame. Athletes from Team USA were involved throughout the project as consultants to create an authentic experience.

“The Olympic and Paralympic alumni community is excited that we now have a physical home for our stories in Olympic City USA, as well as a place for our families and friends to gather and celebrate,” Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, a 1984 Olympic champion and member of the Museum Board of Directors said. “We hope that every U.S. Olympian and Paralympian will find their way home to the Museum.”

The museum cost an estimated $91 million to build, about $15 million over budget determined at the groundbreaking in 2017, according to The Associated Press.

The museum’s opening will help cement Colorado Springs’ reputation as Olympic City USA. The city is already headquarters for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic committees, the Colorado Springs Olympic and Paralympic Training Center, and more than 20 national Olympic governing bodies.

The opening this year marks the 40th anniversary of the Moscow Olympics in 1980, which was boycotted by the U.S. team due to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. Athletes who qualified for the games but never got the chance to compete will be also be featured in the museum.

Tickets for the museum will be available to the public from Wednesday, July 22. Admission is set at $24.95 for adults, $14.95 for children aged three to 12, $19.95 for seniors 65 or older, and military or first responders with ID. Children aged two and under are free.

This year’s summer Olympics which were supposed to be held in Tokyo has been delayed until 2021, due to the coronavirus pandemic.