Constitution: The Movie

The National Archives, guardian of the Constitution and other historic originals, is opening a state-of-the-art theater as part of an interactive museum designed to lure more visitors to the researchers’ haven.

Since refurbished originals of the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence went on display a year ago, almost a million people have passed through the rotunda at the headquarters of the National Archives and Records Administration in downtown Washington.

Today, the Archives will inaugurate the 290-seat William G. McGowan Theater. The ceremony will include the premiere of an 18-minute video on the refurbishing and recasing of the three documents, called “Preserving the Charters of Freedom.” Clips from historic films, some a century or more old, also will be shown.