George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom Opens New Visitors Center at Touro...

George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom Opens New Visitors Center at
Touro Synagogue in Newport, RI; 1,200 Attend Opening Day

NEWPORT, R.I., Aug. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- The George Washington Institute for
Religious Freedom celebrated the opening of The Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr.
Visitors Center at Touro Synagogue on Sunday, August 2, 2009. Over 1,200 men,
women and children attended on opening day.

United States Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Newport resident, was the first in
the door on Sunday morning. He said, "This is not only an enormous
contribution to Newport and Rhode Island but also to the entire country. It
tells the story of religious freedom with pictures and videos in a very
user-friendly way, accessible to all ages."

Other visitors noted: ". . . this exhibit will single-handedly change historic
presentation in the city, and will definitely be on the must see list for
anyone coming to Newport" and "From the moment you walked through the doors
you could sense that it wasn't going to be an ordinary experience."

David Brussat, the leading architecture critic in Rhode Island, praised the
design of the Loeb Visitors Center at Touro Synagogue in his Providence
Journal article of July 30, 2009. "The Loeb Center's primary aesthetic
features all conspire to express their unorthodoxy in ways that help the
building fit into its colonial context. Its rusticated Indiana limestone, its
arched Palladian fenestration of mahogany, its gently pitched roof all
proclaim its embrace of Newport's architectural community. It is obviously a
classical building, yet it is unlike any other. No work of classicism could
possibly depart from canon with greater dignity, hence no building could
possibly fit onto a historic street with greater distinction."

The new Visitors Center features interactive, multimedia exhibits exploring
the meaning and importance of George Washington's 1790 Letter to the Hebrew
Congregation of Newport. This extraordinary letter is the first and clearest
presidential expression of support for American's constitutional right to the
free exercise of religious belief and the separation of church and state.

The Loeb Visitors Center further interprets and celebrates the history and
architecture of Touro Synagogue, the oldest functioning synagogue building in
the nation. First dedicated in 1763, the synagogue was designed by America's
first architect, Peter Harrison. In 1946, Touro Synagogue became a National
Historic Site under the U.S. Parks Service. Then in 2001, the National Trust
for Historic Preservation also selected the synagogue as a National Historic
Site, making it the sole religious institution amongst only 29 properties to
be designated with this honor.

The Loeb Visitors Center is located on the Touro Synagogue campus at the
intersection of Touro and Spring Streets, Newport, RI and is open every
Sunday-Friday, from 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM. The center is closed on Saturdays. For
more information, please visit www.tourosynagogue.org.

The George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom has built and will
maintain the Loeb Visitors Center. The Institute's mission is to promote
awareness of the historic roots of religious liberty in America. In addition
to the Loeb Visitors Center, the George Washington Institute for Religious
Freedom supports educational and scholarship programs for individuals seeking
to learn about and discuss the origins and development of American religious
liberties.

John L. Loeb Jr. is the Chairman of the George Washington Institute for
Religious Freedom and is the former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark. Through the
Institute, he has donated both the land and the new Visitors Center building
to Congregation Jeshuat Israel, whose members worship at Touro Synagogue.

SOURCE Loeb Visitors Center

Norah Lawlor, Lawlor Media Group, +1-212-967-6900, Norah@lawlormediagroup.com,
www.lawlormediagroup.com