Overview
- The Center was inaugurated in a private ceremony on Thursday and opened to the public on Friday, June 19, drawing thousands of visitors and tickets sold out into October.
- A star-studded inauguration featured former presidents, top entertainers and a surprise onstage appearance by Angela Merkel that won standing ovations.
- Michelle Obama delivered an emotional tribute that visibly moved Barack Obama, while President Trump did not attend the ceremony.
- The $850 million campus on Chicago’s South Side is funded and operated by the Obama Foundation, includes a library branch, sports courts, gardens and a 68-meter museum tower, and will provide presidential records digitally rather than as a physical National Archives repository.
- Supporters tout the Center’s community programs and public spaces, but critics have raised concerns about cost, the building’s design and local impacts, and the project is shaping a broader debate over how modern presidents preserve and present their legacies.