Smithsonian Plans Admission Fee for Exhibit

For the first time ever, the Smithsonian Institution plans to charge admission for part of a new permanent exhibition at its National Museum of Natural History, The Washington Post reports.

Admission to the museum will be free, but visitors who want to enter the Butterfly Pavilion, a climate-controlled space with about 300 to 400 butterflies fluttering around, will have to pay.

The legislation and wills that created four of Smithsonian museums — the National Portrait Gallery, the Freer Gallery of Art, the National Museum of African Art, and the Hirshhorn Museum — specifically ban admission fees. But lawmakers have been pushing Smithsonian officials in recent years to find new ways of meeting expenses.

The Smithsonian Board of Regents approved the fee plan for the butterfly exhibit at its January meeting, according to minutes from the meting. The members of the Smithsonian governing board were told that the tickets would most likely cost $5 apiece. The minutes also indicate that the fees would be waived one day a week.

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