The Presbytère — Attraction in New Orleans

This famous and striking building dates back to 1791, and was built on a site that formerly housed Capuchin monks. It was created in the colonial Spanish architectural style, with many neo-Renaissance elements. The building housed the Louisiana Supreme Court for a time, and now is owned by the Louisiana State Museum, becoming a National Historical Landmark in 1970. It stands facing Jackson Square, next to the St. Louis Cathedral.

The Presbytère now houses two permanent exhibits for the Louisiana State Museum. The two exhibits capture the duality of New Orleans - joy and suffering, or as the museum literature describes it, celebration and resilience.

The first floor is dedicated to the experience of Hurricane Katrina, presenting all sorts of artifacts, recreations, and multimedia tools to bring that tragic experience to vivid life. It's extremely well-done. There's a lot of important history and science combined with personal stories and contemporary accounts. This exhibit is not overly political, by the way, and while it is straight-forward in discussing issues of loss and grief, it is not pessimistic, either. There are stories of courage and survival in the midst of so much devastation that are heartening and even inspiring.

The second floor offers a complete change of pace, as it is devoted to Mardi Gras. There are masks and costumes and even entire floats, there are beads and buttons and noisemakers. And there are historical pamphlets, photographs, music, artwork, and posters. The rich history of the Mardi Gras tradition is here in many different permutations. It's slightly bizarre and altogether fun.

The first floor exhibit is called, "Living with Hurricanes: Katrina and Beyond." The second floor's is "Mardi Gras: It’s Carnival Time in Louisiana." If the exhibit on the first floor is sad (and it is, and should be) the second floor offers a tonic, a tasty. fizzy restorative. The two displays together offer a special sense of completeness to visitors. It's a kind of balance drawn from the unique character of New Orleans, but it's also universal and will be appreciated...

We visited both the Presbytère and Capildo and my preferred museum was the Presbytère but that likely depends on the exhibits. The exhibits when we visited in Feb 2018 were Hurricane Katrina-an excellent mix of photographs, video, interviews, and diagrams which explained all the events and circumstances. The other exhibit was Mardi Gras which was going on during our visit. Once again, the mixed media, wonderful displays of Queen's crowns, costumes, and explanations about every one of the customs. Well worth the visit and I would recommend getting the ticket for both museums. The Capildo has the Battle of New Orleans and some New Orleans history. Both were very good and fans of military history (like my husband) will find them fascinating. They are renovating (Capildo) right now so will likely have another good...

I went to this place after missing it the first time. Not too impressed. The different videos during Katrina and the timeline was good. I expected more. Closer photos of the levee breached would be nice, as an example. The summary video of Katrina at the end was nice. Whoever designed this was not able to convey the devastation Katrina brought to New Orleans.... for me.

The voodoo and Marti Gra costumes on the second floor was interesting but it was just that. I was not caught up in the spirit of Marti Gra. Must be the same designer as the Katrina museum. I expected to be swept away by the festivities or make me want to be in there during Marti Gra celebration. The museum did the opposite for me.

One good thing, it was not too expensive. There was a down pour while we were in the museum and stopped by the...