The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Indian (NMAI), located in the heart of the US capital, will open its doors to the public later this year, after 15 years of planning.

Opening ceremonies are scheduled for 21 September, and will be followed by a six-day, First Americans festival. Free to public, the festival will highlight dance, music and storytelling from various indigenous communities throughout the hemisphere.

The 250,000sq ft museum will be home to one of the largest collections of Indian art and artefacts.

Selected objects represent a 10,000-year time span – from the ancient pre-Columbian era to the 21st century – and will attempt to capture the vast diversity of the Indians of the Americas told from their own perspective.

Museum director, W. Richard West, said: “Our goal is to provide as much information as possible for visitors to ensure they receive a truly memorable American experience.”

A result of collaborative planning with Indian peoples, the museum’s design is a result of consultations with native community elders and representatives held over several years in the 1990s.

The curved building sits on a 4.25-acre site and its main entrance faces east – according to Indian tradition.

Five major exhibitions are being developed for the NMAI’s first season, featuring around 7,000 objects from the world-renowned collection of more than 800,000 works of archaeological and ethnographic significance.

Established in 1989, through an Act of Congress, the NMAI is an institution of living cultures dedicated to the life, languages, literature, history and arts of the native people of the western hemisphere,

Passes for the opening ceremonies are currently available. Details: www.americanindian.si.edu