The Atheneum, New Harmony, Indiana, 1979

New Harmony's Atheneum is the visitor center for

New Harmony, Indiana New Harmony is a historic town on the Wabash River in Harmony Township, Posey County, Indiana. It lies north of Mount Vernon, the county seat, and is part of the Evansville metropolitan area. The town's population was 789 at the 2010 census. ...

. It is named for the Greek Athenaion, which was a temple dedicated to

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of v ...

in ancient

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

.Historic New Harmony - The Atheneum
/ref> Funded by the

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

Lilly Endowment in 1976, with the help of the Krannert Charitable Trust, it was opened on October 10, 1979. The architect was

Richard Meier Richard Meier (born October 12, 1934) is an American abstract artist and architect, whose geometric designs make prominent use of the color white. A winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1984, Meier has designed several iconic buildings ...

, whose other works include the

Getty Center The Getty Center, in Los Angeles, California, is a campus of the Getty Museum and other programs of the Getty Trust. The $1.3 billion center opened to the public on December 16, 1997 and is well known for its architecture, gardens, and views overl ...

in Los Angeles, California. When it opened in 1979 it won a

Progressive Architecture Award The Progressive Architecture Awards (P/A Awards) annually recognise risk-taking practitioners and seek to promote progress in the field of architecture. History The editors of ''Progressive Architecture'' magazine hosted the first Progressive Arch ...

, and in 1982 won an

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to s ...

(AIA) Honor Award. In 2008 it won the AIA's prestigious

Twenty-five Year Award The Twenty-five Year Award is an architecture prize awarded each year by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) to "a building that has set a precedent for the last 25 to 35 years and continues to set standards of excellence for its architect ...

, which is given to no more than one building per year. Architect

Peter Eisenman Peter Eisenman (born August 11, 1932) is an American architect. Considered one of the New York Five, Eisenman is known for his writing and speaking about architecture as well as his designs, which have been called high modernist or deconstructiv ...

nominated the Atheneum for this award because it was "a wonderfully pure example of the recurring themes among (Meier's) substantial oeuvre; it is a classic 'Meier' design." The Atheneum is designed so that visitors have to go a specific way through the building, leading out into New Harmony itself. The three-story building's ramp and overlaying grids provide frequent views of the town and countryside. As a visitor's center for New Harmony, it includes a 17-minute movie on the history of New Harmony, called "The New Harmony Experience", in its 200-seat auditorium. There are four galleries. The first hosts a gift shop and a 1/32 scale copy of the Harmonist Brick Church. The second galleries discusses the various individuals in New Harmony's history. The third gallery has a 1 inch = 10 feet (1:120) scale of New Harmony in 1824, made during the filming of the movie. The fourth is closed to the public and has furniture designed by Richard Meier himself. Tours of Historic New Harmony, a collection of buildings of historical significance administered by the Indiana State Historic Site system, begin at the Atheneum.Indiana State Museum
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References

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External links

New Harmony's Atheneum wins award
''Louisville Courier-Journal'' December 23, 2007.
Historic New Harmony
Historic New Harmony is a unified program of the University of Southern Indiana and the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites. Buildings and structures completed in 1979 Buildings and structures in Posey County, Indiana New Harmony, Indiana Richard Meier buildings Event venues established in 1979 Tourist attractions in Posey County, Indiana 1979 establishments in Indiana