PEM in an Hour
2. Atrium
Look up. You are standing in our Atrium, designed by the acclaimed architect Moshe Safdie and filled with natural light. Its slightly inclined entrance area was really once a street in Salem. The different roof lines invoke the city’s rich architectural history. This atrium unites several of PEM’s historic buildings. The history of our museum can be told through centuries of architecture across our nine-acre campus. We have more than a dozen historic structures from an early American shoe shop to the Ward House from 1685 and large homes built for entrepreneurs who earned their fortunes from international maritime trade.
We will start with the gallery to your left, here on the first floor, in an exhibition featuring our Native American and American collection. It’s called On This Ground: Being and Belonging in America. I’ll meet you there.