SEATTLE — Tucked away at the tippy-top of a nondescript building on University Avenue, look for a museum with an open heart and open mind.
"Thank you, making it all the way up the stairs," said Executive Director Zabine Van Ness. "Your exercise for the week!"
The Unity Museum is the brainchild of Van Ness and her late husband, Peter.
"I'm a jack-of-all-trades, a master of none, an idea person," Van Ness said.
The central room of the museum features a "history train." It's an actual model train running along about 50 feet of track, and past displays that take the visitor from 1800 to 2050.
From world events to technology, all stories are told through the lens of social justice.
"It's not about objects," Van Ness said. "It's not about fossils or grandma's attic. It's not about that. It's about, when they had that, how did they feel about it?"
The museum is as eclectic as its founder. Exhibits featuring women's history and the U. District stand side-by-side with a multi-denominational meditation room.
"It's inseparable from the idea of a Unity Museum. To meditate and reflect is a natural partnership," Van Ness said.
The Unity Museum has spawned a few satellite locations across the country and overseas. Because thirst for knowledge and hope for unity is universal.
"We feel that we need to be the solution for peace," Van Ness said. "I think if anything the lesson here is to reflect. When you collect your thoughts at night [think], 'What did I learn today?' Not 'What did I accomplish today?" but 'What did I learn today?'"
The Unity Museum is located at 4341 ½ University Way NE #210 in Seattle's University District. It's open Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Admission is always free.
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