“Reclining Liberty,” the iconic artwork gracing the front lawn of the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington for the past two years, is staying put.
Members of the county’s Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB) on Sept. 17 voted 9-0 to allow the 25-foot work featuring the Statue of Liberty in repose to remain in front of the circa-1910 former school building at 3550 Wilson Blvd.
Crowds descended on the Arlington Historical Museum on Saturday as the facility reopened after months of renovations.
Hundreds of people filtered through the six-hour open house, appreciating the new facelift to the museum’s physical presence and exhibitions. The building at 1805 S. Arlington Ridge Road had been closed since the summer of 2024 to allow for the restoration of 47 original windows.
The Arlington Historical Society Museum is preparing to reopen after months of renovation and restoration work.
The museum at 1805 S. Arlington Ridge Road, which closed last summer for repairs, is hosting a grand reopening event on Saturday, May 3 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Arlington County Board has approved several new investments in projects involving local history.
Officials signed off on a total of $65,000 in funding on Saturday for operational costs at the Black Heritage Museum of Arlington, facility improvements at the Arlington Historical Museum and the installation of 30 markers indicating where people were enslaved in Arlington.
After moving from one temporary location to another on Columbia Pike, The Black Heritage Museum of Arlington has settled into its new digs — for now.
The museum is currently located on the first floor of the Ethiopian Community Development Council building (3045B Columbia Pike), but it has bounced around the Pike ever since it transitioned from an online museum to a physical location in 2018.
A century ago, a stately brick building in Virginia Square was an elementary school. Now it is the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington (MoCA), perhaps currently best known for a horizontal Lady Liberty out front.
Putting “Reclining Liberty” on the front lawn is looking like a smart marketing move for the recently rebranded museum.
Bronze plaques dubbed “stumbling stones” will honor the lives of three people once enslaved in what is likely Arlington’s oldest house, the Ball-Sellers House.
The three commemorative markers are the first of their kind and will be the subject of a dedication event later this month. The event will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28, at the Ball-Sellers House (5620 3rd Street S.), which is now a free museum.
Bright and early this morning, Lady Liberty in repose rolled into Arlington on a flatbed truck.
Then, the turquoise lady was lifted by a crane onto the front lawn of the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington (MoCA), the county’s recently rebranded art museum at 3550 Wilson Blvd.
A 25-foot-long lounging Lady Liberty is emigrating from the New York area and taking up residence in Arlington, among its bronze Marines and steel spires.
During the first week of August, “Reclining Liberty” — inspired by traditional Asian art depicting the reclining Buddha on the path to enlightenment — will move to the front lawn of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) Arlington. She will be transported by truck and a crane will position her.
When living civil rights legend Joan Trumpauer Mulholland participated in sit-ins, she carried a Bible with her.
She kept her birth certificate inside “so that they could identify the body,” her son, Loki, said during an event on Saturday at the Black Heritage Museum of Arlington honoring his mother’s activism.
(Updated at 5:20 p.m.) It’s set to be a busy month at the Black Heritage Museum of Arlington as it continues to look for a permanent home.
The museum is participating in a number of Black History Month programs while preparing to put up new exhibits, museum director Scott Taylor told ARLnow.
A $10,000 state tourism grant will revamp how Arlington promotes its Black history to tourists.
Currently, the county’s tourism webpage outlines some of the important historic moments and existing landmarks. The landing page links to blog posts featuring Black businesses and artwork celebrating Arlington’s Black culture and history.
