George Lucas’ New $1 Billion Museum Of Narrative Art In Los Angeles

By Edwin Kee
Artist's impression of the $1 billion Museum of Narrative Art
 AP

Museums are there for a very good reason -- to educate us on the past, and to get a better grasp of history. Through history, we are able to learn more about ourselves so that we are better positioned to face the future. Star Wars creator George Lucas too, has big ideas for a new museum that will be located in Los Angeles and cost a whopping $1 billion to build -- the Museum of Narrative Art.

The Museum of Narrative Art is said to be located in Los Angeles' Exposition Park, and according to the project's organizers, having gone through "extensive due diligence and deliberation", Los Angeles was the site of choice compared to the other great cultural and historical center of California, the city of San Francisco. Despite having a sky high cost of more than $1 billion, the whole museum will be financed by George Lucas himself.

Just what kind of exhibits will visitors be able to see in the Museum of Narrative Art? The idea is a simple one, yet it might just catch on all over the world in the near future. For starters, the Museum of Narrative Art will showcase not only art but memorabilia from the Star Wars franchise (we are pretty sure about that!) alongside different kinds of cinema classics which will include the likes of The Wizard of Oz and Casablanca.

History buffs will definitely love to drop by Exposition Park in Los Angeles in the future once the Museum of Narrative Art is up and running. After all, there are different kinds of nearby attractions that comprise of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, the California African American Museum and the California Science Center. In fact, the presence of this upcoming museum has brought nothing but pride to the Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who shared that this city was "the ideal place for making sure that it touches the widest possible audience. We went after it with everything we have."

With George Lucas himself having picked up a personal collection of more than 40,000 items over the past 72 years of his life, it makes perfect sense that he would like to share some of his collection with the rest of the world. It is also a very good excuse to expand the amount of storage space for his stash of toys, memorabilia and other kinds of related art.

Lucas did not have Los Angeles in mind at first though, picking Chicago as his stop of choice. However, there was pretty strong opposition by the local community, and that caused him to drop the idea of having the Museum of Narrative Art there in 2016. San Francisco did make the step to offer him a site on Treasure Island to build the museum, which would place it right smack in the middle of San Francisco Bay. However, the project’s organizers did not buy the idea.

Here’s a little bit more trivia for those who have a slant for the nostalgic -- the new museum will be located close to the University of Southern California, which was where George Lucas studied film five decades ago. As for the $1 billion cost, it should not be too much for Lucas himself who got even richer in 2012 after selling the franchise off to Walt Disney for a cool $4 billion back then.

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